Wednesday, November 6, 2013
Book Review: Misery Loves Company by Rene Gutteridge
I recently read the book Misery Loves Company by Rene Gutteridge. Tyndale House sent me the book for the opportunity to review.
Misery Loves Company is about Jules Belleno, a blogger and unpublished writer, who's husband, Jason, was killed in a 'random' shooting, causing Jules to become fairly recluse. When she's kidnapped by her favorite author, Chris, her husband's old partner goes searching, uncovering a web of deception surrounding Jason's death that puts him and those close to him in danger. As Chris tracks down countless leads in attempts to find her, Jules must unravel the rantings of the man holding her captive and try to stay alive long enough to be found.
I did like this book. I found that Gutteridge kept me guessing until the end to the reasons of Jules Belleno's kidnapping. She has a talent for leading the character along with the reader to discover the truth. I also liked that her characters were flushed out, revealing strengths and weaknesses alike; also changing as the story progressed in their faith and relationships.
Perhaps if there was anything about the book that I didn't like was the confusing rants of the author throughout and was often impatient to get to the truth of his ramblings sooner. However, this is a personal preference and I realize that the author used his vague talk to bring the story along. I also wish I could have seen more how the investigation was wrapped up and potentially who all was involved.
Overall, it was an easy read and a well-written book. I think anyone with a love for a little suspense and mystery would like this book.
Friday, November 1, 2013
Random Adventures (August-October)
| Music at the Park one beautiful August evening. |
| We finally got season tickets to the Zoo!! The men need to figure out the map first! |
| Lion rides for Emmett! |
| We spontaneously drove to Indiana to go to the circus that was in town for one night. The kids loved it!! |
| Grandpa paid for Emmett and Alisha to ride on the Elephant!!! |
| Getting stuck in her dresser I'm painting. |
| Getting ready for a bear hunt, so i was told :) |
| Mom, Alisha and I dressed up for the FlireFly 5K!!!! Alisha won a prize in the costume contest portion!!! |
| Emmett helps me make applesauce! He washes the apples. |
| But there's no keeping him out of the messier jobs either! |
| Official Taste Tester. |
| My first batch of tomatoes for canning!! I was soooo tired of tomatoes by the time I was done. |
| This year made: Tomato juice, Salsa, and Spaghetti sauce.... next year maybe sauce too! |
| Matthew was given free tickets to this Nascar event near us so we took the kids. We didn't stay long but it was FUN!! |
| And since they had turkey legs we HAD to have one of those too! Kids devoured that thing!! |
| The trucks were soooooooo loud. Thankfully we had ear plugs! We had to leave when the kids' started falling out and falling through the bleachers. |
| Morton Pumpkin Festival with Matthew's family!!!! First time I'd ever been. It was HUGE! The parade had gone an hour before we left and it still wasn't finished yet!! |
| Family photo |
| Bug Catching one afternoon. |
| The nets were marked down 80% at target so for $1.19 we have cool nets for future bug catching endeavors!! |
| Caught a butterfly!!! |
| Riding Bruiser!! |
| Bruiser got wayyyyyyyy to close for this girl's liking. |
| Petting Alisha's bunny rabbit. |
| Yeah!!!!! We got the girls for a few days in September so we had to make the most of it!!! Day #1: The BEACH!! |
| Eating Lunch! (and getting attacked by sea gulls). We learned you CAN NOT feed those birds or one turns into 12 circling overhead!!! Thankfully Emmett chased them off!! |
| Digging a deep hole! |
| Day #2: SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY MUSEUM in Chi-town |
| only German captured submarine. soooooo neat! |
| Fastest passenger train in the 1930's? Actually very beautiful inside too! |
| Cool Train set display showing from Chicago to Seattle. Amazing!!! |
| Picaboo! |
| Inside that fastest train: Sisters Picture! |
| Matthew and I participated in the Eat Dirt 5K obstacle course: Before with a clean photo!!! |
| After the race but also AFTER we took an outdoor shower! We donated our shoes to the needy (they would be washed first) and we rode home barefoot. What an awesome date morning!!!!!! |
| I just love this photo of these two. My attempt to potty train one day. Didn't work but they were two peas in a pod. |
| Back to the Farm this year!!! |
| Holding baby chicks. |
| Going to get pumpkins before we leave. |
| Emmett found his!!!! |
| Audrey's indecisive about which to choose. |
| Holding hands on the car ride. What sweeties :O) |
okay, well that catches me up for now. Expecting Baby #3 has slowed us down quite a bit but I'm sure as soon as I'm feeling better we'll be off for more grand adventures together. One that I'm particularly looking forward too.... our first time at a Hibachi place.... they do fancy knife work, light things on fire, and cook your food right there :O) I think the kids will ADORE it and I'm super excited to see it too!!! We have groupons so hopefully as soon as my tummy is feeling better we're going to go check it out!!!!
until the next sum up :O)
~Olive
Quick July Summing Up
I feel like I'm forever just summing things up these day and boy we've been busy this summer looking back at the pictures but with the kiddos and my list of things to do that never gets shorter I guess summing up is about the best I can do. This is just July (as an example of our busyness!!!)
A RibFest we attended in Naperville. We didn't even try any ribs but the kids enjoyed the kids center of it. :)
Little Jackson's Baptism!
We were honored to be asked to be Jackson God parents. Such a sweet little fellow!!
Georgia Trip!!!
We were able to make it to Georgia during part of Matthew's shut down. It is ALWAYS sooo good to be able to hang out with the family at the house and just do family things :)
We left a little early so that on the way home we could stop and do a little 'vacationing' exploring style. It was a fabulous idea as we were only on the road ~6 hrs a day and we got to stop at some neat places.
Atlanta, GA Aquarium
Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory
Fair Oaks Cattle Farm
Michigan with the Bahler Family
We no sooner arrived home from GA, that we did some laundry and headed to Michigan to be with my family. Sadly it was rainy most of the time we were there but that didn't stop us from hanging out and finding a few fun things to do at the resort.
Beach Time
This was technically the first time we were at the beach but after this quick stop on the way home from the Bahler Vacation we made it a point to go back several times the rest of the summer!!! I never knew it was only like 20 minutes out of the way from heading to my parents house!!!
| Kids painting their fireworks picture for the 4th of July |
| Not bad fireworks for not being able to see what i was doing :) |
| A flag cake in celebration |
| Emmett's Fireworks! |
A RibFest we attended in Naperville. We didn't even try any ribs but the kids enjoyed the kids center of it. :)
| This bull ride didn't last very long. Emmett declared it 'too dangerous' after about 45 seconds on the bull. |
| Maybe a little braver facing the goats with Daddy. |
| Blow up slides! A HUGE hit for Emmett. |
| I'm not a big fan of carnival games but a chance to go fishing! Emmett was in :) |
Little Jackson's Baptism!
We were honored to be asked to be Jackson God parents. Such a sweet little fellow!!
| Us with Jackson Duane. |
| Jacob, Rachel, Us and Jackson after the baptism. |
Georgia Trip!!!
We were able to make it to Georgia during part of Matthew's shut down. It is ALWAYS sooo good to be able to hang out with the family at the house and just do family things :)
| Emmett loved their pool!! |
| Daddy was an excellent 'shark' to ride on. |
| Audrey and Grandpa Time. |
| Audrey with Auntie Lydia |
| A 'drive-in' movie for the kids. Audrey, Emmett, and a boy Em's age they babysit for. |
| Putt-putt pros |
| Hole in one? |
| Watching the others on the ride. |
| Grandma, Audrey, and cousin Asher!!! |
| Matthew and Emmett... ready for a serious race! |
We left a little early so that on the way home we could stop and do a little 'vacationing' exploring style. It was a fabulous idea as we were only on the road ~6 hrs a day and we got to stop at some neat places.
| Hotel on the way home. |
Atlanta, GA Aquarium
| Atlanta Aquarium! Sooo many neat fish |
| Mantas... Emmett was a little short and couldn't really reach to touch one. |
| alligator |
| Family photo at the Aquarium |
Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory
| Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory. |
| We got baseball bats!!!! |
| Ready to hit that ball!!! |
| Family photo at the Louisville Slugger Place |
Fair Oaks Cattle Farm
| Fair Oaks Cattle Barn Tour.... they had rides too :) |
| Cows!!! |
| Train Ride |
Michigan with the Bahler Family
We no sooner arrived home from GA, that we did some laundry and headed to Michigan to be with my family. Sadly it was rainy most of the time we were there but that didn't stop us from hanging out and finding a few fun things to do at the resort.
| Shane getting ready to rock climb |
| Audrey styling the hat. |
| We caught tadpoles and frogs!! |
| Using the net to get them out of the pond! |
| Play do inside when it rained. |
Beach Time
This was technically the first time we were at the beach but after this quick stop on the way home from the Bahler Vacation we made it a point to go back several times the rest of the summer!!! I never knew it was only like 20 minutes out of the way from heading to my parents house!!!
| Serious Sand Digger |
| Castle with trench |
| Had to use the bucket too!! |
| Buried Feet in the sand. |
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