The Wedding Shop

In the early 1900's, Cora Scott built up quite a wedding dress and trousseau shop right outside of Nashville in Heart's Bend Tennessee, walking through her own search for the man of her dreams.  Almost 3/4 of a century later, Haley Morgan and her best friend Tammy vow to renew the shop to its former glory when they are playing their as children.  Before that dream can become reality, Tammy dies just prior to what was believed to be her wedding day.  When the shop is destined to be torn down for a parking garage, Haley becomes determined to see their dream live regardless of the foolishness some believe it to be.

The Wedding Shop goes back and forth between Cora's and Haley's stories.  Both women have suffered heartache and must heal before God can give them the desires of their hearts.  Both women endear themselves immediately to the reader because neither would be considered "too good to be true", are well developed yet some characteristics left open to the reader's imagination,  and don't necessarily fit into the mold the world has created for women of their time.  The lives of the two women intertwine through their ownership of the shop. 

I hadn't ever read a Rachel Hauck before that I can remember.  The Wedding Shop appears to be third in the series, following The Wedding Dress and The Wedding Chapel.  Not one to typically dive into the middle of a series, I did so without knowing.  Hauck didn't leave me hanging and filling in the blanks on my own though.  She did an excellent job of not presuming everyone had read the prior novels.  I don't know if the other two have any of the same characters, but this novel made me want to search out the other two.  This novel exceeded my expectations.  When I ordered it, I feared it to be a shallow, quick read that would make me feel good for having read it but would be forgotten the next day.  Not so. 

I did receive this book free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  I was in no way obligated to write a positive one.  Thank Ms. Hauck for an excellent introduction to your writing and I look forward to more.

A Tapestry of Secrets

For some reason, Ella agreed to meet her ex-fiancé for lunch.  All she ever wanted was to create her artistic quilts and marry a man like her grandfather.  At the same time, her grandmother, Perla, is reminiscing about her life and the mistakes she made that have remained pretty much her secret.  Maybe it was time to share her journey with her daughter Sadie and granddaughter but serious health problems prevent her from acting on her thoughts. Needing help recovering, Ella more than willingly moves into her grandmother's home where some of those secrets begin to unfold.  A Tapestry of Secrets is a story of family, faith, forgiveness and healing at all ages and stages of life.

From some investigation, apparently this novel is the third in a series but nowhere on the cover, title page, verso of the title page, back or spine of the book do I see that information.  The good news is that Sarah Loudin Thomas does an excellent job of bringing the reader straight into the story and fills in the blanks so you aren't left scratching your head and wondering what she is talking about.  In other words, I never would have knows that Perla's story had been told in other books.  The bad news, I probably won't go back and read the other two now that I know how things reconcile themselves but I'm also glad I didn't know because I thoroughly enjoyed the book and wouldn't have ever picked up book 3 in a series had I known I was doing so.

Being raised in Eastern KY, I love the Appalachian setting for the story and found myself longing for the days I spent with my own grandmother.  This is my first Sarah L Thomas book but I don't believe it will be my last.  Thank you Bethany House for sharing this story with me.  I was in no way obligated to write a positive review.

A "p(f)un" game

Punderdome contains a set of 200 word cards, half green and half white.  One of each is used to play each round of the game and the objective is to connect the two word prompts to make a pun.  One player serves as the prompter for each round, turning over the two cards and serving as judge as to who came up with the best pun.  Players have 90 seconds to create their pun unless they have earned extra time. The goal is to collect ten sets of card in order to be declared the winner.  For example, you may select the words "shopping" and "board games".  A possible pun might be, "I get 'board' shopping for games."

Two mystery prize envelopes are also included in the set.  Host/hostess gets to determine what goes in the envelopes whether they be a white elephant, nice prize, or joke prize. A small timer might have been a nice extra to put in the small box package so that players wouldn't have to rely on their electronic devices as a timer.  I think games are a time to disconnect from the electronic world. 

Originally, I ordered this game for use with gifted middle school students since it is recommended for ages 12+ but only those with a pretty mature sense of humor would get the game.  Even for adults, I think you would need to invite the right people to play.  In my opinion, the puns on the back of the cards that earn a player or team an extra 30 seconds of brainstorming time are more p(f)un than trying to connect two random words to create your own pun.  Don't get me wrong, I love puns and use them regularly.  I just think the audience for this game is limited and you will need to look hard for other punny friends to play with.

Overall, I give this game 2.5 stars out of 5.  It won't be on my go-to list but one I will pull out on occasion.  I did receive this game free from the publisher and was in no way obligated to write a positive review.