Stones for Bread

"Alexandre Dumas, père, wrote of bakers:

In Paris today millions of pounds of bread are sold daily, made during the previous night by those strange, half-naked beings one glimpses through cellar windows, whose wild-seeming cries floating out of those depths always makes a painful impression. In the morning, one sees these pale men, still white with flour, carrying a loaf under one arm, going off to rest and gather new strength to renew their had and useful labor when night comes again. I have always highly esteemed the brave and humble workers who labor all night to produce those soft but crusty loaves that look more like cake than bread...

It is bread that keeps them alive. Give us this day our daily bread, they pray, and they praise the Almighty for it.

Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.

So, I pack the bread in bags, like I will for any paying customer. I don't send burnt loaves or stale loaves, or any kitchen experiment I don't believe is quality enough to sell. I will not give to the least of these anything I will not offer to my Lord, should he walk into Wild Rise one afternoon and ask for a little something to eat.

The secrets of baking have, until relatively recently, always been passed from mother to daughter. I was young, eight perhaps, when my own mother tied her apron around my waist and told me it was time for me to show her how much of what she taught me I remembered. It was time for me to make my first loaf without help or instruction. No recipes. Just my senses. And I did. It was a square loaf of wheat bread. A little too dense. A little too brown. But we ate it at supper that night, my father, my mother, and I, with butter and salt, rewarmed in the oven. And my mother said to me, "You're now the keeper of bread." It was my right of passage."

In the novel Stones for Bread, author Christa Parrish takes the readers into much more than a contemporary story about the art of making bread. She touches those warm places within our hearts that sense more to bread than just what we eat. It becomes part of who we are and provides nourishment to both the heart and soul of those we make it for. It is a piece of ourselves.

The story is based around the life of Liesl McNamara, owner and baker at Wild Rise, a bake house in Vermont. Her's is a story of the generations of bread bakers beginning with her grandmother and mother til finally resting within herself. The story winds its way into Liesl's tragic childhood and culminates with her being entered in a reality show called Baked Off by one of her employees. Woven in between are the mouth-watering recipes of 11 Artisan Bread that you will find takes time to make just perfect but well worth the effort. This is simply a story to be experienced and enjoyed from cover to cover and trust me, you'll never look at a loaf of bread the same again. I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars.

I received Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish compliments of Thomas Nelson Publishers and Litfuse Publicity for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions expressed in this review are strictly my own. For more information about Stones for Bread, Christa Parrish or where to pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Stones for Bread by Christa Parrish

You can also find Christa Parrish on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Stones for Bread from the Litfuse Publicity Book Tour, please click here.

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: Thomas Nelson (November 5, 2013)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1401689019
• ISBN-13: 978-1401689018
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.2 x 1 inches 

Christa Parrish is celebrating her fourth novel, Stones for Bread, with a KitchenAid Mixer giveaway.

Easy steps to enter:

1. Follow Christa Parrish and TNZ Fiction on Pinterest.

2. Then Pin the Stones for Bread book cover (below), the contest graphic (above), or both, and link to this post (using this URL: #StonesforBread KitchenAid Mixer Contest #ChristaParrish http://litfusegroup.com/campaigns/stones-for-bread-by-christa-parrish).

3. Then fill out THIS SHORT FORM to let us know. (There are also some additional ways to earn extra entries, as well as an option for non-Pinterest users. It's true—people like that do exist!)

Questions? Email info @ litfusegroup dot com.

Winner will be announced on 12/9 on Christa's Facebook Page.

The Long Way Home

Welcome back to St. Dennis, a quaint seaside small town where you are bound to find friendship and love in the most unlikely of places. Once you come for a visit, you may decide you never want to leave. Take Ellis Chapman, the daughter whose father and fiance' have been convicted in one of the biggest Ponze schemes in New York. Now having lost not only her home, her job, her car, her money and her love, she is looking for a place to simply disappear from the limelight and publicity that is haunting her in New York. Taking help from her close friend, Ellie learns that her mother who died of cancer has left her a home in St. Dennis. Since they were divorced at the time, it escaped being sold off with the rest of her family's assets.

There is only one small stipulation in her mother's will, that Ellie live in the house at least six months before selling it. Working with Jesse Enright, the local attorney in St. Dennis, she creates a new identity of Ellie Ryder and learns that will the right money management the funds her mother left behind to care for the house and property may last through the six months she needs to stay there. In that time, she hopes to update it to make it more profitable to sell and hopefully find a way to restore her life. What she doesn't plan on is the house needing more repairs than she has money to pay for.

She finds Cameron O'Connor, the local caretaker that has been maintaining the house and grounds for many years working with her grandmother Lilly when she lived in the home many years before and later her mother, Lynley when she was living there while undergoing treatment for cancer. Cameron learns that the house he has always wanted to own has now been sold but doesn't know that Ellie is related to the family and that is just how she wants things until she can arrange for the house to be sold. She hopes her identity will remain elusive and that she can put her six months in and sell the home. Will she be able to maintain her secret or will her past catch up to her even in a small town like St. Dennis?

In the latest novel from the Chesapeake Diaries series from Mariah Stewart, The Long Way Home captures the same characters from the books we've come to love and adore, Jesse Enright is the local attorney who is married to Brooke, the local owner and creator of the town's delicious cupcakes. Once again the small town feel is apparent from the first page as the novel opens once again with a diary entry from the oldest town resident Grace who owns the local newspaper and the town's historic inn. New characters now intermingle with the charming residents that Mariah has so lovingly introduced us to in each of her consecutive novels and my heart warms whenever Mariah launches a new novel in the series. The saddest part is when this series will come to a close, but thankfully there is another waiting in the wings when this one ends. So it gives this reader peace to know that the story will continue for a bit more longer with an excerpt to At The River's Edge at the conclusion to tease us until it publishes.

I received The Long Way Home by Mariah Stewart compliments of TLC Book Tours and Ballantine Books for my honest review. I am always excited to learn when another novel in this series is published because to me, it's like returning home to place where love, peace and friendship resides and I can escape my routine life to escape into virtual one for a brief time. I only wish St. Dennis were as real as the residents that Mariah Stewart so lovingly breathed life into. I, myself would move there instantly and open my own bookstore and join in the fun of living among real friends and true down to earth people. I easily rate this one a perfect 5 out of 5 stars. I highly recommend it and if you haven't read any of the books in the series, please pick them all up. You'll definitely want all of them if you love small town romance with friendship and great characters that will captivate you from the very first page. This one can be read as a stand alone however. but once you read this one, you 'll want them all.

For more information about The Long Way Home, Mariah Stewart and where to pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Long Way Home by Mariah Stewart

You can also find Mariah Stewart on Facebook to stay up to date with all her latest books.

To read more reviews on The Long Way Home from the TLC Book Tour, please click here. 

The Chesapeake Diaries Series:
 #1 Coming Home
#2 Home Again
#3 Almost Home
#4 Hometown Girl
#5 Home for the Summer
#6 The Long Way Home
#7 At the River's Edge (Coming Soon)

The Things I Do For You

Bailey Jordan is finally on the fast track in her life with her husband Brad. After following his whimsical dreams to open a surfboard shop in California, a sweater shop in Seattle and finally a coffee shop with none of them lasting long enough to be a success, she finally is making enough money so they can stay in New York in hopes of beginning a family. However on the day of making what could be the biggest sale of her life, she gets a strange premonition that something isn't right about the day. Not knowing what she is feeling or why she tries to push away the feelings.

Brad doesn't know what he is feeling except free. Funny how seeing the accident doesn't inspire him to want to help but all he knows is that looking at the body of the man in front of the electronics store is that he isn't going to make it but he really does have nice shoes. He wonders what his wife Bailey would think if he just took them, after all it's apparent the man on the ground in front of him doesn't need them anymore. Suddenly he sees a bright light and a voice tells him he has a choice, he can follow the light or he can return. He remembers Bailey but thinks he needs to go back for those shoes cause they sure do look comfortable.

In the novel, The Things I Do For You by Mary Carter, the reader is in for quite a surprise when these paragraphs introduce you to the Jordan's, Brad and Bailey. What Bailey doesn't expect is how one phone call can completely change your life and make you rethink what your priorities are. When she learns that her husband Brad has been in a serious car accident and that he has been dead for thirteen minutes, she rushes to the hospital. Hoping that she will be able to see Brad one final time, makes her realize how important he is to her.

However, when Brad recovers he simply isn't the same anymore feeling he's been given a second chance at life, and feels grasping the brass ring in front of him is something he has to do. The man that comes back simply isn't the same Brad that she married and things are going to be interesting as Brad feels compelled to share his feelings and experiences with a Near Death Experience group filled with all sorts of odd characters, you will love.

I received The Things I Do For You compliments of Mary Carter and Pump Up Your Book Tours for my honest review and have to say I really enjoyed it. I actually had to stop at some parts and read it out loud to my husband because of the strange stuff Brad does and wonder how Bailey was able to deal with him. It's kinda tragic in some ways but keeps you entertained in a wide range of emotions all through the book. Some of my readers may be warned of strong language that is found within the pages but overall makes for an exceptional read by the mainstream audiences. For that reason I rate this one a 4 out of 5 stars based on my personal rating system.

For more information on The Things I Do For You, Mary Carter or where you can pick up a copy of this book today, please click on the links below:

The Things I Do For You by Mary Carter

You can also find more reviews from this book tour by clicking here.