August 2011 – Concert Katie

Book Review: Love You More by Jennifer Grant

Katie August 31, 2011 4 Comments

Love You More is the story about how Jen Grant and her husband David adopted their fourth child, Mia. It tells a bit about their early married life in Brooklyn, NY and how Jen had always longed for her children, even before she had them. Jen and David had 3 children that were biologically theirs, all 2 years apart, before they considered adoption.

Their life story continues with the waiting they had to do before they added another piece to their family puzzle with Mia – who was adopted from Guatemala and was added to the Grant house just after her 1st birthday.

While some families choose to keep their adoption secret – the Grant’s let their 3 children – Theo, Ian and Isabel – know all about the adoption process and told Mia from when she joined the family that she was adopted and explained how she had a different “tummy mommy” than her brothers and sisters. Since Mia was from Guatemala, her skin was dark like chocolate and her hair black like licorice so it was rather obvious when she was out with her brothers and sisters that she was adopted and often had to put up with comments about how she “didn’t match”

I have thought a lot about adoption as an option for having children, so I enjoyed reading this book and following this families story on how everything works out with not only getting to adopt the child, but how to try and help them adjust to the new family once the adoption has been finalized.

About the Book

Following the invisible thread of connection between people who are seemingly intended to become family, journalist Jennifer Grant shares the deeply personal, often humorous story of adopting a fifteen-month-old girl from Guatemala when she was already the mother of three very young children.

Her family’s journey is captured in stories that will encourage not only adoptive families but those who are curious about adoption or whose lives have been indirectly touched by it. Love You More explores universal themes such as parenthood, marriage, miscarriage, infertility, connection, destiny, true self, failure and stumbling, and redemption.

Sections include:

A Whisper

The Waiting

Learning to Know

In Love You More, Jennifer describes the way she feels God has brought her family together and completed it with the adoption of her daughter.

About the Author

Jennifer Grant is a journalist whose columns, feature stories, and blog posts have been published in Sun-Times Medianewspapers, Christiantiy Today, her.meneutics (Christianity Today’s blog for women), and adoption.com. Jennifer writes a column for the Chicago Tribune. She is a member of the National Society of Newspaper Columnists and is a founding member of Redbud Writers Guild. Jennifer lives in the Chicago suburbs with her husband and four children and has expertise in throwing parties, traveling light, and daydreaming.

More at jennifergrant.com.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. 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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Music Product Review

Mat Kearney – Young Love

Katie August 30, 2011 0 Comments

Mat Kearney’s CD “Young Love” was released on August 2, 2011. The first single, “Hey Mama”, is also the first track on the album. Young Love is Mat’s 3rd full length release – and if you are a Grey’s Anatomy fan you are probably familiar with some of his older songs even if you don’t think you are! A couple have been featured in their episodes and he’s also had songs in some other TV shows as well! All of the songs on the album are either written or co-written by Mat.

The album is really catchy. After listening to it practically all day to properly review it – I found that I had a hybrid of 2 or 3 of the songs stuck in my head the next day! (Hey Mama, Ships in the Night and Young Dumb and In Love if you are curious!) Usually it is just 1 favorite that gets stuck – so that kind of shows you just how much I loved this album. Another great thing about this album is that there is not one song that I dislike enough to skip it. Most of the other albums I’ve gotten lately there are a couple songs that I just can’t sit through. Not the case with Young Love. I also like how the theme of Young Love carries throughout the songs on the CD.

Hey Mama
Ships In The Night
Count On Me
Sooner or Later
Chasing The Light
Learning to Love Again
Down
She Got The Honey
Young Dumb and in Love
Rochester

Helpful Mat Kearney Links:
www.matkearney.com

Young Love on iTunes

Mat Kearney Widget (fun & interactive!)

Mat Kearney on Facebook

Mat is heading out on tour beginning September 14th – be sure to check him out if he comes to your area! Dates are under the cut!

American Idols Live – Bridgeport, CT

Katie August 29, 2011 0 Comments

After our M&G were over, we were free to go to our seats for the show. As we started walked forward, I realized that Row D was actually front row in front of the small catwalk! And the seat that I had was DEAD CENTER on the catwalk! (I had gone back and forth being unsure if I had 1st row of 4th row – I was convinced it was first until the Nassau Coliseum show made me think otherwise)

The show was pretty much exactly the same as 2 nights before, the setlist did not change but of course the interaction that the Idols did with the crowd did a bit. During Stefano’s set he announced that he liked one side better than the other and he did not take his shirt off as early as he did in Long Island either. In fact, he didn’t until the lights were just about off so I wasn’t able to get any photos… but he was right in front of me when he did it!

James gave his bandana to a cute little boy up front… Lauren was very interactive waving and trying to shake hands with various people in the front. (There was a good few feet from the barricade to the stage, but if someone reached as far as they could and Lauren reached as far as she could they’d reach each other)

The 2 people next to me had told me how they asked to talk to Aaron Spears, the drummer on the tour and spoke with him for 10 minutes, but then it cut in to their time with the Idols. At intermission, the drum tech came up and said “These are from the drummer” and handed them some sticks! When the tech found out they both played drums, he went back and got them a couple more sets. I thought that was so cool of the drummer, and when he came back on stage after intermission they waved to him and he gave them a salute.

I’m really not sure what else to write about this show… so I’ll just leave you with some more photos under the cut 🙂 (Plus as I write this we are anticipating Hurricane Irene so it is probably best I move on to something else before we lose power!)

American Idol Concert Meet and Greet

American Idol VIP Ticket Experience

Katie August 28, 2011 0 Comments

Thursday night it was time for my American Idol VIP Experience. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect because I had not been able to find too many reviews of how other peoples M&Gs went. All I knew was that first there were group photos and then you had time to get solo photos with the Idols. I basically only wanted a photo with Stefano and anything beyond that would be a bonus.

When I arrived at the venue it was raining and quite a crowd had already formed. Some had other M&G passes which would allow them the “sign and slide” where they get a photo signed and don’t have much time to talk to the idols. We were let in and put in groups of 10-15 for the group photo with 10 of the Idols (Thia was not there. Not sure why) and then we moved off to the side until everyone got their group photos.

For the group picture, we were near Lauren who warned us her hair might look bad in the back. I told her our hair probably wasn’t much better since we were out in the rain! Then she went on about how she woke up at 3:30 because she had overslept and had a M&G at 4 and still had to go to hair and makeup!

I met up with a facebook friend, Miriam, and we had our game plan down. She wanted photos with Pia, Lauren and Haley. I wanted photos with Stefano (and Haley). We decided we would get those done first and then whoever was still around if we still had time we’d hit up next. We went to Haley first, she had a crowd, so we waited our turn… for a little bit Stefano had no one with him while we were waiting for Haley 🙁 He wasn’t talking much because he was sick and I knew if I went to talk to him it probably wouldn’t have ended well haha. So we got our photos with Haley, then went to Stefano. Somehow my camera went on video mode so I was standing next to him for the longest time while Miriam was trying to figure out why the camera wasn’t working. Finally I fixed it and got my photo with him. We bounced all around trying to see who had the shorter lines. We went to Pia next and then waited for Lauren (I think she and James had the longest lines) I can’t exactly remember the order but after we hit up our “priority list” we got pics with Paul (and I talked w/ him a bit about Hanson since his fiance is a fan – he said he knew them and they were good guys) and we decided we’d try for Scotty – except we didn’t know where he was! Someone overheard me say I had no idea where Scotty was and directed us down the hall where Scotty’s mom took our photo with him! He’s so adorable in person. We hit up Jacob.. and looked for Naima but it seemed like she had left! (Earlier Pia, Jacob and Naima were all near each other) Stefano also looked like he was gone at this point… Casey had a short line so we went by him and were told he had to leave, but then someone yelled “TWO MINUTE WARNING”, so we were able to get a photo with him. After that we hopped in line for James since he was the only one left. We got to the front of his table but as soon as we got up to the front time was up and he had to leave! Argh! So close.

Overall, we did really well with getting photos! There was no way we could have gotten Thia, Naima left or we probably could have gotten her when we went back over to get Jacob… and James was just a bit too popular for us. Apparently some people did manage to get photos with everyone and I have to commend them for that because it was not easy!

We also got a photo that everyone had previously signed for us with instructions on how to get our group photo.

Personally I probably would have removed the group photo aspect of it and allowed us more time to just mingle with the idols – without the group photo (which was hard to get near whoever you like anyway since there were 11 idols and 10-15 fans) we would have absolutely had the time to get photos with everyone individually – and probably then some.

But I would have to say that the $250 for the VIP Package was certainly worth it.

Book Review

Book Review: The Shopaholic Series

Katie August 27, 2011 0 Comments

I’ve taken a break from my “required reading” and decided to go through the books I have on my Nook. Back in May, I started the Confessions of a Shopaholic Series (by Sophie Kinsella) and I decided to continue through with the rest of them for good measure.

Confessions of a Shopaholic – This book has been turned in to a movie, which I can’t remember if I have seen it, or just seen commercials for it. But I’ll have to watch it (again?) soon. In this book we are introduced to Becky Bloomwood a financial journalist with a bit of a spending problem. She tries to hide this problem and makes up all sorts of ridiculous stories so no one catches on to just how much debt she is in.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan – Becky and her boyfriend Luke head to Manhattan – where of course she can not control her spending! It all comes out that she is giving financial advice but can’t take it herself and she ruins not only her career, but puts her boyfriend’s career in jeopardy as well!

Shopaholic Ties The Knot – Personally – I was annoyed the title of this story gives it away. In the beginning, Becky talks about how she didn’t want to get married for 10 years. By the end – well, you guessed it – she ties the knot. Although the hijinks that come along with our friend the shopaholic getting married are crazy and this book is definitely a must read even if you think you know what the outcome will be!

Shopaholic & Sister – One of the more far-fetched of the series, Becky finds out that she has a long lost sister (half sister) that is 2 years older than her. She thinks they will have tons in common and be fast friends, but it turns out that her half-sister Jess – DOESN’T LIKE TO SHOP! The horror! Jess thinks that perhaps they do not share a father after all, but Becky realized that they so have some things in common – Jess loves rocks just like Becky loves shoes. (and they even have the same display cabinet) When Becky goes to tell Jess this there ends up being quite an accident that somehow only Becky Bloomwood (now Brandon) could manage to get into.

Shopaholic & Baby – In this book Becky is pregnant. She decides that she doesn’t want to use the OBGYN that her husband Luke recommends (the guy that delivered him!) but instead wants to use the OBGYN to the stars – Venetia Carter. It turns out that Becky’s husband Luke and Venetia dates back in college. Of course, this leads to all sorts of insecurities on the part of Becky. Luke assures Becky that she has nothing to worry about, but her hatred towards Venetia ends up being the inspiration for a new clothing line by Becky’s designer friend Danny!

Mini-Shopaholic – Becky and Luke’s baby is now 2 years old and a bit of a terror. Becky can’t seem to keep her under control and she has been banned from several shops. Luke hires a Nanny specialist to check out the situation and see what they need to do. Meanwhile, Becky is trying to throw a surprise party for Luke and just when it seems that everything is falling apart at the seams, Becky somehow figures out a way to pull it all off. This is the last book in the series (so far) but the end really leaves things open for another book. I don’t want to give too much away though 😉

American Idol Concert Paul McDonald Photos

American Idols Live – Uniondale NY

Katie August 26, 2011 0 Comments

Last week I won tickets to see the American Idols Live tour on Long Island from a twitter contest sponsored by Mastercard. The show was Tuesday night and I didn’t remember until we got there that Pia is from Long Island so it was her hometown show! (I didn’t remember until I saw all the people in neon Pia shirts walking around!) The seats were on the floor, Row 8, which was actually 12 rows from the stage because the section started with A1, A2, A3, A4.

The show started out with all the girls dressed in white singing Lady Gaga’s Born This Way. Then Pia came out and said hello to her hometown crowd and sang some of Empire State of Mind. Looks like that is the over covered song of the week 😉 At least it was appropriate this time since we were in New York! Then Pia went in to California King Bed and Stefano came out to sing with her. My mom was nudging me that he was on the stage but I couldn’t see him at all because there was a HUGE guy a couple rows ahead of me who was standing up to let someone else in to their seat! Of course! This would end up being the theme for the night as somehow every time this guy stood up he managed to only block Stefano.

Paul came out and sang Maggie May – and man does that guy run around a lot. It was damn near impossible for me to get a picture of him because by the time the camera focused, he was already on the other side of the stage! This happened a lot with the guys on the more upbeat songs but Thursday I’ll get a second chance so maybe I’ll be able to figure out how to get a good shot with them running all around. Thia came out and did Selena Gomez’s “Who Says” and her dress had a long tail that almost looked like a cape. Then she ended up taking that part off and joining Pia, Haley and Naima to perform Janelle Monae’s Tightrope.

Then it was time for Stefano! He did Bruno Mars Grenade and the girls joined him for DJ Got Us Falling In Love. And near the end of the song he TOOK HIS SHIRT OFF. Somehow I managed to get a picture and then realized he did it on the catwalk which is right where my seats are for Thursday. At least now I know to be prepared for it!

Then the guys (minus Scotty, who was not on stage at all in the first half of the show) performed Neon Trees Animal. We got a video greeting from JLo and Naima came out and peformed On The Floor. She also had a breakdown where she just danced. Pia came back out (it seemed to very much be the Pia show) and performed her first single – This Time. Then it was time for Casey! He started his set playing his upright bass and did Santana/Rob Thomas’ Smooth. Then Haley joined him for Moanin’. He said how he was getting hot in his leather jacket and it was getting harder to breathe and then of course sang Maroon 5’s Harder to Breathe. Then the whole crew (minus Scotty, of course) came out and did Forget You and I think there was some Crazy mixed in there as well.

Then it was time for intermission. I liked that it wasn’t in the order of being kicked off doing 2 songs, etc like it was in years past (plus Lauren was out there a lot in the beginning, Haley and James too which probably wouldn’t have been the case with the old format) but it seemed like it was not an even spread of who was singing what. For the places they came in it seemed like Pia sang too much and Paul, too little.

After the intermission Lauren came out first. I assume this was to separate her and Scotty so it wasn’t back to back country. She has great stage presence and was saying how Randy Jackson was at the show and backstage. She did Flat on the Floor, Like My Mother Does and If I Die Young. Then it was time for James. He started at the back of the venue and walked up to the front and ended up going right by our section (We were 4 people from the aisle though) while singing Sweet Child O Mine. He also did Muse’s Uprising. Then Jacob came out and did Never Too Much and You’re All I Need To Get By which he dedicated to Ashford, the songwriter who had just passed away. Haley did a great performance of House of the Rising Sun and Bennie and the Jets.

Then of course it was time for the main event – Scotty! They did a medley of announcing all the winners on the video screen. I still love that Kris Allen’s reaction was =-O! Appropriately Scotty came on stage singing… baby lock them doors and turn the lights down low! I would have been so disappointed if he did not do Josh Turner’s Your Man because he had sung it SOOOO many times in Hollywood week. haha. He also did Are You Going To Kiss Me OR Not and then his first single, I Love You This Big… Lauren joined him and they sang When You Say Nothing At All and then the girls joined him on backup vocals for Gone. I also noticed that Scotty was holding the mic like normal and NOT like a flute like he did during the season. I wonder how hard it was for him to break that habit!

Then it was time for the final number which was very high energy and again, pretty hard to get photos of. James was doing wrestling moves on Casey and Scotty while they were singing and hime and Paul did a weird little dance… Then all the contestants were introduced and when James came out he had on a clown nose! lol They did a little bit more of their final song and then the show was over!

Setlist under the cut!

RAISE Armpit Stain Remover Giveaway

Katie August 25, 2011 6 Comments

Sponsored by Tomoson.com Armpit stains is something that happens to the best of us, and it can be incredibly embarrassing. It can also be very difficult to remove these stains from your clothing, causing you to either buy new clothing or worse – wear the stained clothing again!

Raise Armpit Stain Remover is the answer to your armpit stain problems. As long as the stain has not yet been treated by bleach – you can remove it by using Raise! Any garment that has already been bleached creates a permanent stain that can not be removed.

Removing stains is simple with Raise Armpit Stain Remover. Pre-treat the entire stain area with Raise, rub it together or rub with a brush and allow it to sit with Raise on it for 15-20 minutes before tossing it in to the washing machine.

I tested the product out on 2 shirts. One had a stain for years, but I refused to give it up. Unfortunately Raise did not work on this shirt – but I’d be willing to bet that at some point bleach had been used and will therefore count this as a strike against me and not Raise. The second shirt had a “fresher” stain on it – and it did make the stain nearly go away. I am sure to someone who did not know the stain was there – they would have no idea. Only I know the dirty little secret of this t-shirt’s past!

You can enter to win your own Raise Armpit Stain Remover – which has been named Maid Easy’s and Good Housekeeping’s cleaning product of the month (you can see more from Maid Easy in the form of product reviews and recommendations) as well as been featured in Shape, SELF, Ladies Home Journal, InStyle and The Wall Street Journal right here at Concert Katie!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Concert Photos

KC101’s Ticket To Ride August 21

Katie August 24, 2011 0 Comments

Sunday was a bit of an interesting day. The crazy-ness actually began before, when I asked Six Flags about handicapped accesible seating for the concert and was told that ADA seating was available – but only for those in wheelchairs. We decided then that I’d use a wheelchair for the day because even though I was more of a liability standing in a crowd of rabid fan girls, six flags didn’t seem to care unless I was in a wheelchair! Plus, my friend Christine had asked previously and was told if I was in a wheelchair I could be put anywhere so we figured with our VIP wristbands we could position the wheelchair at the back of the VIP area and then stay with our friends.

We got to the park when it opened, picked up a Guests with Disabilities guide book and then picked up our VIP tickets. We decided to wait in line and there were only about 25 girls in front of us so we thought we could easily position the wheelchair against the barricade and we’d be all set. Except that Six Flags decided they were having a flashmob for Jason Derulo (you should be singing that in your head every time you see it mentioned here) and that 500 people would be let in first. If they had VIP they’d go to the front of VIP and if not they’d go to the front of the GA area. Basically there was no way we could get ahead, but we decided to stay in line anyway.

Originally the plan was that doors would be at 2:30. Then we got told they were pushed to 3. Then security said that it was going to “rain heavily” and we should prepare ourselves. If we got out of line, we would lose our place even if our friends stayed in line and even if we had to go to the bathroom! Then we were told that since the storm was coming they were moving us in to a pavilion and we had to stay seated and that we could NOT leave – even to go to the bathroom. Or we could not come back. Obviously they soon realized this was ridiculous and those who did leave to use the restrooms were NOT kicked out.

Fortunately we made it in to the pavilion before the rain began and we all sat around. We were entertaining ourselves just fine in the line and could have continued doing so in the pavilion but they set up a mic and ended up having Art and Colin of ‘The mop squad” come to entertain us. I certainly hope whatever act they do in the park was better than what they did for us… I felt like I was in summer camp hell. Surprisingly, there were people who seemed entertained and they didn’t get boo’ed off stage.

The rain stopped and the sun came out and we were told the other pavilion (flash mob) would be let in first. They tried to do everything orderly and we were worried the wheelchair would get stampeded, but the six flags people stuck to their guns that we would have to walk in with everyone else. Once we went to get in to VIP we were told to go in to the wheelchair seating instead of VIP and we were separated from friends. Basically we spent $10 for VIP for nothing and we could have been on rides all day and ended up in the same spot. Oh well… at least we got to hang out with our friends in the line. The other weird thing was that those with All Access (radio station peeps, sponsors, etc) had the section in front of the wheelchairs and were standing and moving around so even if you thought you had a good spot, at any moment someone else could jump in front of you and block your view!

Andy Grammer was up first. He did 3 or 4 songs and some beatboxing and was really good. The only downside to his set was that he did a bit of Empire State of Mind which has to be one of my least favorite songs, but otherwise he was entertaining so I won’t hold that against him.

Next up was Shaggy. His DJ played intro music for what seemed like forever. I don’t know if he was stalling for time or what… but finally Shaggy came out. He did Mr Bombastic, Angel, It Wasn’t Me, Sugarcane and Mr Lover. AND he also did a little bit of Empire State of Mind! I could see if we were in New York but we were in Massachucetts…

Then it was time for the reason most of us were there – Joe Jonas. He came out to Love Slayer and also performed Just In Love With You, Fast Life, Kleptomaniac, I’m Sorry, See No More (his last song which he jumped in to the crowd during.) As well as Jonas Brothers songs – When You Look Me In The Eyes and Hello Beautiful. After Joe we left the area and went to the bathrooms, where Andy Grammer was outside signing and taking pics. We waited for a bit to try and get a photo but he kept getting called off to somewhere else so we gave up and went to get me a hair feather while we waited for Jason Derulo. We heard a couple of his songs (and cheered when he came out and sang ‘jaaaason deruuuullloooooo’) and then decided to head out. I had such a headache that as much as I wanted to ride a coaster I just didn’t think it was a good idea because I’d probably have made myself sick! We decided to head out and ended up getting home at a fairly reaasonable hour.

In the end, everything worked out for the best but it was very frustrating for most of the day trying to “go with the flow” when we weren’t sure at time if we’d end up trampled or not!

Book Review

Book Review: Reversible Skirt by Laura McHale Holland

Katie August 23, 2011 2 Comments

When the mother of three little girls commits suicide, their father wants more than anything to keep his family together. He remarries in haste and tells his daughters his new wife is their mother. The youngest, Laura, believes her mother must have gone through a kind of magical transformation.
Reversible Skirt is written from Laura’s perspective as a child sifting through remnants of her mother’s existence and struggling to fit into a community where her family’s strict rules are not the norm. When Laura’s father dies, her stepmother grows increasingly abusive, which propels Laura and her sisters into a lasting alliance. Their father’s wish that they stay together comes true, although not in the way he’d imagined.

Laura McHale Holland is a writer, editor and occasional storyteller living in southern Sonoma County. Her award-winning memoir, Reversible Skirt, was recently released by Wordforest, and her short fiction has appeared in The Best of Every Day Fiction Three, as well as the 2009 and 2010 Vintage Voices anthologies. She has also been a feature writer for such local publications as NorthBay biz, the Noe Valley Voice, and the original San Francisco Examiner. She is posting new flash fiction weekly in 2011 athttp://lauramchaleholland.com.

My Thoughts:

I was captivated by this story. A young girl who doesn’t realize that her mother had committed suicide and assumes that the woman that she has been told by her father is her mommy, is in fact her real Mommy. However, it turns out that she is just an evil stepmother who does not particularly enjoy the company of children (and she now has 3 step-daughters). She ends up piecing together that her mother had committed suicide when she was 2 years old and a lot of what happened that she thought had just been dreams about her mother were actually reality of when her and her sisters discovered that her mother had hung herself after coming home from a Halloween party. At eleven her father passes away and now her and her sisters are forced to be only in the care of this stepmother who is absolutely horrid to them. I had thought that they might try to run away from home – but instead they put up with this woman until they were old enough to head out on their own. Even then, they would still return for visits.

As horrible as a childhood Laura had, it seems that she has now grown up to be a well adjusted adult – and even a step mother to two sons.

I would definitely recommend this memoir to anyone – you don’t have to have dealt with a stepmother or father to relate and feel bad for this girl and her sisters – and you don’t even have to have sisters. I have neither, and felt a range of emotion for Laura and her sisters Kathy and Mary Ruth.

I received a free e-book copy of this book in order to post this review from author blog tours. All opinions are mine and I was not otherwise compensated for a favorable review.

Book Review

Book Review: Cherished by Kim Cash Tate

Katie August 22, 2011 0 Comments

I was drawn to the book Cherished by Kim Cash Tate because it is about someone who dreamed of being a songwriter. I figured with the musical aspect of it, it would be able to keep my attention.

I’ll be honest, it took me a bit to actually get in to the book. There were a lot of characters and in the beginning it was rather overwhelming for me. A couple of times I read 1 chapter and then put it down – unsure if I’d be able to get through it. However, once I picked it up and “forced” myself the continue reading it was easier to figure out who was who and follow along a bit better. In the end, I quite enjoyed the book.

The main character is Kelli who made a few difficult decisions in her life and wasn’t sure what God wanted her to do with her life. It is once she is reunited with an old boyfriend that these things start to come in place for her. Brian, her ex, is now a Christian Rapper who is pretty successful under the name of “Alien”. Brian and Kelli work together on his new album after working through some of the issues they had previously with their relationship.

There are also other stories included with some of the other characters – the next most important one being Heather. She was also looking for God to help her out and guide her on where she should be going with her life after a few not so great decisions.

I am now intrigued by the fact that there might be Christian Rappers out there. Christian is not usually a music genre I listen to, but I might have to check out some Christian rappers to see how that all works out – since usually rap is associated with things that are, well, not Christian.

Also interesting – at the end of the book there is an ad for Da’ T.R.U.T.H’s song “Cherished” which features CeCe Winans that was inspired by this book! Looks like I have something else to look in to as well after reading 🙂

About the Book

How can she believe God cherishes her when she can’t forgive herself?

Kelli London once dreamed of being a songwriter. As crazy as it seemed, she hoped that God would use the lyrics that came to her while she slept. She dreamed about Brian too, that the love they shared would be a forever kind of love. But choices she’ll forever regret upended her hope . . . and turned her dreams to dust. When those dreams come knocking once more, she’s forced to deal with the pain of the past.

Heather Anderson’s life has spun out of control—first, an affair with a married man, then a one-night stand with the drummer of a popular Christian band that left her devastated. Broken and alone, she cried out to the only One who can save her. And He did. But that’s just the beginning, because now she must leave behind the only life she’s ever known.

Two women with shame-filled pasts form an unlikely friendship. What does God’s forgiveness look like for them? Will they ever believe that He loves them . . . and can still offer them a life where they are cherished?

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. 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 <http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/waisidx_03/16cfr255_03.html> : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”