Book Review #4: "Love in the Balance" by Regina Jennings

    Love in the Balance  

(Ladies of Caldwell County Series #2)  by Regina Jennings  

Wowza! It has been some time since I last reviewed a book! This is entirely my own fault! With mid-terms and life's demands I have had little time to dedicate to my ultimate favorite past time: reading some good Christian romance fiction! I recently received a digital copy of "Love in the Balance" from BethanyHouse through NetGalley and finally had time to finish a book of my own choosing!  

It was divine and just a perfect book to get back into the reading bug, and just in time for spring weather too! And without further ado here is my review. 

Rating: 4.5 out of 5 

This is another first book for me by this author, so I went into this very open minded. Sometimes it can be hard to read a book of a favorite author because you want it to be as great as the previous book or maybe even better. I also want to add that I didn't even realize it was a second book in a series until I started to write this review. So you can read them out of order it seems because I had no issues.

"Love in the Balance" is a story of learning to heal from past mistakes and also how important it is to be open and truthful.

Molly Lovelace is a young woman who dreams of being a society leader in Lockhart, Texas. Yet, she is in love with handsome wrangler Bailey Garner- a man her parents do not approve of because of his financial status. If Bailey could just get a job that could support a family maybe they'd have a better chance. 

Bailey Garner, meanwhile, dreams of doing great things for God, but his biggest problem seems to be Molly. He finds ways to excuse their kisses, and when Molly refuses, he vows to make a plan that will make her his. In town, he tries his hand at several different trades, but everywhere he turns he runs into the mysterious stranger Edward Pierrepont. 

This Edward Pierrepont proves to be an issue for both Baily and Molly. Because of Edward's financial stability Molly is tempted to marry him to help her family, but what of Bailey? Will Molly find the balance between the love she wants and the love expected of her to accept?

Overall, I found this book very refreshing. I have yet to read a book just like it. I enjoyed seeing how both main characters saw to resolved conflict in their lives with God and also with each other. 

I look forward to reading the next one in this series and also curious about the first! Great job Regina!

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*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255: "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising."*

Happy Easter fellow readers~!

- Taylor 

Hannah Montana Socks

Flashback  Friday (Even though it's not Friday)

When was the last time your socks matched? And I mean matched! Probably once which was after you bought them.

Let's face it, wearing socks that match is a tough thing to accomplish. Socks tend to get lost in the wash and dryer, and quite frankly not many people care. It almost seems that the new fashion is to wear mismatch socks on purpose.

So when I got back from Africa I was looking for a college group that I could get into and grow in Christ and in community. I got in contact with friend of mine from junior high because we had ended up having a class together during our first semester in college.

He ended up inviting me to his group, but once he invited me he ended up un-inviting me. Saying, "You should come next week, because this week might be awkward."

I thought to myself, "Really, how awkward could it be?"

So I told my friend I could handle it and he picked me up and we went. So when we showed up I followed with the custom of taking the shoes off and walking in with my socks on. This is when the story gets interesting.

When we got there little did I know we would end up being fashionably late and show up to a group of forty people sitting in two rows of chairs facing each other.

Girls on one side. Boys on the other.

Yep. Speed Dating! Oh the joys of college group! 

Let's say some guys idea of romantic dates are "special", but to each their own.

Afterwards we ended up talking about relationships and standards. I got separated from my friend when we split up into groups. That's when I noticed a girl looking at my feet and she did a weird twitch grin thing. That's when I thought to myself, "Is it my small feet?"  I have super small feet so I get a little conscious about them.


So I nonchalantly look down at my feet and see I am wearing my sister's Hannah Montana socks. Hannah Montana's face was full blown on my feet with a microphone signing, "Nobody's Perfect!" 

You got that right Hannah! I certainly am not!

After I found out I seriously just wanted to melt into a puddle. Or zap those ugly socks off my feet somehow. I mean seriously how embarrassing! A college girl wearing Hannah Montana socks!!!!!!!! I ended up hiding them under my legs which was an uncomfortable twenty minutes let me tell you.

I clearly wasn't paying attention that night when I left the house in a rush. So a lesson was learned and new rule was born: Always check your socks when you're going to an event.

Hope you learn from my little fiasco! And the many more to come~

God Bless,
Taylor

I'm Sick of Being Sick

Day four in counting of my sickness.

I finally have the strength to write and report that I am sick. So when I had nothing to do I re-read some of my posts. I am so glad to say that I put a disclaimer on some of them that there might be horrid grammar. I apologize for future grammar issues as well.

As I said before, I am sick of being sick. So sick of being sick. Sick of being sick. Sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick sick of being sick.

Hope everyone else feels better out there than I do!

Peace out!
-Taylor

The Horse Story

Yesterday was my long-awaited bike ride. When I was a freshmen in high school I got really into road cycling. I did my first 100 mile bike race two months after getting my bike (which I still think is crazy), then I got a job and just used my bike to get around town. Four years later I have to decided to get ride of these love handles on my body which why do we deem them "love handles"? I do not love them! haha

Overall I loved the bike ride! It was amazing. I did 16 miles in an hour which I think is awesome...I know for some intense cyclists that's a bad day for them, but I am proud of myself and I can feel my love handles packing their bags! Sayonara~

I was on the last stretch until I got home when mayhem struck.

There is this road I take that is a straight clean road to my house. It's also a horse trail/leads to the park/ cars also use this to get to other places. So this road can get busy, but usually it doesn't. When I looked up I saw two girls riding horses up ahead of me and a car coming the other way. So either the horse got spooked by my bike or the car or the powerful winds?! Whatever spooked the horse spooked the crap out of him. Before I know I hear the car swerve and I look back to see the black horse-which we shall name BB for story purposes- buck his rider onto the cement group.

Ouch!

I turned around got my phone out and asked if I should call 9-1-1. Luckily the girl was fine! But here's the kicker it was a childhood friend. We went to elementary and junior high together but lost touch in high school. She was like, "Taylor!?" and I responded, "K*****?!" It was a crazy reunion for sure.

The dude in the car was there too, he felt bad and was real nice is helping and I was worried for K. The other girl whose horse was named Dexter started going crazy because BB was running up and down the street like Seabuscuit. Dexter bucked and almost broke a fence and then before we know it the two horses run off together and disappear onto public road. Total silence filled the street.

We were all amazed. I have never seen that happen and it was just surreal and a vivid reminder that horses are powerful.

I got in contact with K through Facebook and she reassured me she was feeling better and she and her friend got their horses back together. She also told me she would be sticking to shorter and more private rides from now on. Good idea K. :)

That was my Saturday. The most eventful one of 2013 by far.

-Taylor

My Screaming Cellulite!

Today was my first Track and Field practice. I felt like a fish out of water and intimidated by the beefy men. Seriously, this men were incredibly buff to the point where it felt uncomfortable for me to be around them. So I used the "text-my-friend-until-practice" trick which is very common this day and age in technology to avoid situations that make us uncomfortable.

My day started at 5 am today. 5 AM! Yep, that's a usual for me now. It's nice but mostly really hard to wake up I set five alarms within two minutes of each other and I still woke up 15 minutes than my intended time, but no one was up so it was easy to get ready fast.

Now getting around to Track. I haven't ran in a while, when I got back from my trip to Uganda this past summer the last thing I wanted to do was anything physical. I felt so drained physically, mentally and spiritually so I took these past few months recuperating and now I am ready to get back to my high school days where I ran a good 7min 20 sec mile. Please God put wings on my feet!

The warm up laps weren't that hard but that's because I forgot something: they are warm up laps. Warm up. Not your fastest. I forgot that I was probably going 60% and that's not good for a warm up. So now gets to the distance training. (By the way everyone was super nice so I feel blessed just in that factor.) We ran on hills. Hills that made my cellulite scream. Maybe the most humbling moment was when I felt in some much pain I literally felt like I wasn't moving and I looked around and saw the whole football team (which are full of the extreme beefed up men) watching this small girl (me) trying to keep up with the halfhuman/halfcheetah mutants.

Wow can we just marvel at the fact that some people are so outrageously gifted in the running category. I was in awe watching the other distance runners crush the hill, overcoming the obstacles of pain. So inspiring.

All I can go is up from here. In a few weeks is the first meet and I don't want to psyche myself out. At the moment I can't feel my legs and one of the girls on  my team warned me this would happen. That's good right? As I said before in another post who knows why I'm doing this, but I'm excited to see how God uses these legs He made for me for which I am truly grateful.

My weeping cellulite and I bid you a farewell my friends. Until next time.

XOXO,
Taylor

Master Locks and a White Cadillac

As a dedicated community college student I have joined the Track and Field team to make some friends, add to the lacking of women on the team and buying books through shady deals off of Craigslist.

Yes these deals are shady. Tonight I went and met this one man whom I had been texting about this one book I need for my Film class. So we decided on Starbucks at 7pm. I texted him saying, "I'm sitting outside." and the response was like I was in a mobster movie:

"I n white Cadillac"

No joke that is what it said and the car legit appears out of nowhere and the windows are tinted and I'm not kidding either it seemed that this mysterious fog came out of nowhere. Inside my head I'm praying to God because I was like "What HAVE I DONE?"

The car pulls up to me and I walk forward. Strike One for stupid girl (moi) who could have just been kidnapped. The window rolls down and the guy doesn't even look at me. Just hands me the book and I hand him the cash. He doesn't even acknowledge me and then he rolls up his window and drives off. 

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? WAS I PUNKED? Scariest and funniest thing ever. My mom was in a car near us and she was like, "That looked like a drug deal." 

Later tonight I was packing my backpack with my running clothes and remembered I needed a lock for the locker room but lo and behold I don't remember the combination and no I did not write it down somewhere hidden either. I was getting really frustrated and about to get dressed to go out because I would have no time in the morning so I just sat down and prayed I pleaded with God to please use my hands to open the lock.

Nothing.

Can you say patience? I felt like I was going to cry. Who knows why, I just felt like it. That's when I went downstairs and told my mother I would have to go out and her response was, "Well, did you pray about it?" 

"Yes mother." I rolled my eyes. 

"Let's all pray you guys!" my younger sister said. 

That's when it happened. My sister said this child prayer with full confidence and I felt confident and I felt a presence move my hand and I heard that open click. The MasterLock opened. God had provided. 

So today I learned about patience and having a little more faith. Now I'm praying that God calms my nerves about practice tomorrow. I get a little scared when I'm by myself in a new surrounding but I have to keep reminding myself that God is near me and around me at all times. What I do tomorrow will not have a lasting effect that will ruin my relationship with God. So I'm going in strides. I'm going to keep pushing and use these legs that God blessed me with and maybe someday work towards a marathon. 

Prayers are appreciated from anyone who reads this.

Also I would love to hear about a God moment where He provided even in the littlest ways that was just mind blowing. 

Have a blessed week~

In His Loving Name, 

Taylor 

30 days of nothing but...

So I heard of this thing that some people do which is spend 30 days only listening to Christian music. I thought it would be really hard but I think about the music that isn't Christian and how it affects me. Most of the music isn't glorifying at all to God or even shows that I have much respect for myself.

I feel that this will be the hardest thing I've ever done but I hope that God uses these next thirty days to open my heart to His Will and Love.

Here's to listening to nothing but Christian music!

Leave a comment if you know of any awesome Christian artists please!!!


In His Loving Name,
Taylor