Book Review: Blind Hope

Katie June 2, 2012 2 Comments

Blind Hope: An Unwanted Dog & The Woman She Rescued is by Kim Meeder and Laurie Sacher.  When Laurie rescued Mia, she never realized that it would actually be Mia who was rescuing her.  When they first met, Mia was definitely in need of some help.  She was too thin, her teeth needed help and her breath stunk.  So much so, Laurie was worried about even taking in the dog.  But she knew she could help Mia and took her in anyway.  It turned out that Mia had doggie diabetes, needed to have some work done on her teeth and was slowly going blind.  Laurie accepted the challenge of this dog and knew that she could help her.  Down and out herself, the two helped each other get back to a happy place.

The story is told by her friend Kim, although there are a lot of quotes from Laurie as she told the story to Kim.  It is easy to see the transformation between the two – woman and dog – and it quite a heartwarming story. (Dog’s after all, are a woman’s best friend.)

Coming in at about 17 chapters and under 200 pages, this is a book that you can easily read in an evening. I’d recommend doing that because you will want to read through the whole book at once! It is a great story and the storytelling is great as well.

I received a free copy of this book through the Blogging for Books program in order to write this review.

An unwanted dog. An emotional rescue.
Two lives forever changed.

Laurie’s dreams had been shattered before she came to work at Crystal Peaks Youth Ranch—the ranch of rescued dreams—where broken horses and broken children encounter healing every day. In an attempt to soothe her aching soul, Laurie reached out to save a dog in need. And she soon began to realize that the dog was rescuing her.

An inspiring true story told through the engaging voice of Kim Meeder, Blind Hope reveals poignant life lessons Laurie experienced from her ailing, yet courageous canine friend. Despite the blindness of her dog—and her own heart—Laurie uncovered what she really needed most: authentic love, unconditional trust, and true acceptance, faults and all.

As Laurie and her dog, Mia, both learned to follow the lead of a master they couldn’t see, Laurie discovered the transforming power of God’s grace even for imperfect and selfish people—and she experienced a greater love than she had ever known.

Book Review: Edible Party Bouquet

Katie June 1, 2012 0 Comments

Are you invited to a lot of parties and never know what to bring? Edible Party Bouquet has the answers!  The book has over 40 different arrangements that you can make and bring to your next party – or even make for your own parties!  While I consider myself to be crafty, I don’t really do much with food.  However, this book makes things really simple with step by step instructions and photos as well to help keep you on track creating these party masterpieces!  Some are easier to make than others (Dipp’n Dots for instance is just slices of fruit on bamboo skewers – defintely something I can handle doing!) but all of them look amazing and delicious!

There are different displays for all seasons – so you won’t be bringing a bouquet of flowers to a winter party – you can make a boquet of fruit snowflakes!  Or perhaps a Truffle Tower with red white and green truffles for a Christmas party. (Or change up the colors to match the party theme!)

Not all the bouquets are fruit either – some are candy, brownies, cookies, veggies, etc!  But they all look absolutely fantastic and you will for sure be the talk of the party if you put one of these together at your next get together!

The book is separated into Sweet & Savory so you can make either desserts or appetizers! I have to say, most of the ones I am most looking forward to trying out myself are in the Savory section!  (BLT Bouquet? Pinwheel Palooza? They look delicious and decorative!)

I received a free e-copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in order to write this review.

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