Droiee Ceramic Hair Straightener Brush Review

I was so hopeful in the latest trend for ceramic hair straighteners when I was offered the opportunity to review a Droiee Ceramic Hair Straightener Brush. It look easy enough to use and as you know there is a growing trend for this product by consumers.

It is simple in theory and easy to use since all it requires is just plug it in, turn it on and wait for the brush to heat up. The LCD display offers the consumer the ability to see just how hot the product is before using it to straighten your hair by simply running the brush through your hair.

It did heat up by the smell of the brush reminded my 17-year-old daughter of stale moldy salsa. Even despite the horrible odor, she opted to give it a try assuming that perhaps the product was new and that was just the smell when first using it. However, the results fell flat. No matter how many times she tried to "straighten" her hair, the product did not work. In fact, she said the brush made her hair feel worse and caused it to frizz instead. The brush was hard to work through her hair and she has fine hair to begin with.

That being said, I can't not in good faith recommend this product. It did not work as predicted and would rate this product a 1 out of 5 stars.

I received Droiee Ceramic Hair Straightener Brush compliments of the company in exchange for my honest and personal review of the product. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from the product itself in exchange for my honest review.

The Hearts We Mend

They say the death of a child is something no one should experience, but I would conclude that the death of the spouse is often times more difficult to death with, especially when it leaves them with raising children on their own, without the financial and emotional support of a spouse. That is the premise behind The Hearts We Mend, the second novel in the Banister Falls Series by Kathryn Springer.

Evie Bennett is busy planning for her son Cody's wedding after spending the last 13 years raising him alone after the death of her husband, firefighter and town hero Max. She isn't prepared to face the rest of her life alone even though her time with the women's ministry at church occupies some of her time. Even with the support of well meaning family and friends, its not a future she is looking forward to especially when Cody claims the family dog as well. Now she won't even have the responsibility of coming home to care Diva anymore. Is this really all there is to look forward to anymore?

When Evie is forced to work with the new temporary church custodian, Jack Vale, a man she ran into late when night when she and her friend Gin were caught doing a blessing burglary. She just never expected to run into him again especially in the only place where she can find solace and meaning in her life at the moment. Yet God has plans in store for both Evie and Jack as well as those who are connected to their lives in a very powerful way, one that can not and will not be ignored, no matter how much either of them try to fight it. Despite how organized and well-planned Evie believes her life is, God has other plans in store and life will never be the same for either of them.

I received The Hearts We Mend by Kathryn Springer compliments of Zondervan Publishing and Litfuse Publicity for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my personal and honest evaluation. I love the chemistry that Jack and Evie both share, and their connection to their families. I believe it is what initially draws them together, how much they genuinely care for others putting their needs second. It disarms them to really seem the person inside instead of facing the exterior only and allows a rare peek into the heart of the person inside. I love Jack's willingness to step in no matter how appearances present themselves, like Evie's confrontation with Max's parents who hold her responsible for his death because she didn't try harder to sway him to stay in the family business instead. I was rooting for him after that episode! This is well worth a look into for fans of contemporary romance and well worth 5 out of 5 stars in this book lover's heart!

For more information about The Hearts We Mend, Kathryn Springer or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Hearts We Mend by Kathryn Springer

You can find Kathryn Springer on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on The Hearts We Mend, please visit Litfuse Publicity's website.

The Calling

It seems the apple never falls far from the tree and in this case Rachelle Dekker is giving her father, Ted a run for his money. Genetics must place a role in the success of her Seer series which is a blend of Logan's Run meets Divergent. A suspenseful series involving a group of people who live under the Authority in the city and they decide who is successful and those who aren't that will spend their lives living in a servant subclass to those in the city. In the first novel in the series, The Choosing, readers got a chance to meet Carrington Hale, a young girl who was raised and groomed to hopefully make a successful match in the Choosing ceremony. But her future was not to be as bright as she had hoped and was left without being 'chosen.'

Now living a life as a Lint, the subclass who serves those in the city, she has been feeling as if there should be something more to this life and when she meets a wise old man named Aaron, who offers to show her another "way," she believes in a life of freedom that the Authority wishes to curtail. If everyone started to "think" for themselves, they might not adjust to the life that had been the way of life for all who serve the Authority.

Now Carrington and her group of people known as Seers, those who see with the true eyes of the Father, must work as fugitives to try and offer people an alternative to that of the Authority. It is a race against time as the Seers, now referred to as rebels and outlaws, must be hunted down until every last one of them is transitioned into the Genesis program. It is an experiment that the Authority has tested on its own citizens in order to reprogram them through a series of injections to reprogram their neural pathways and erase all memories of freedom and choice in the second novel, The Calling.

I received The Calling by Rachel Dekker compliments of Tyndale House Publishers for my honest review. I did not received any monetary compensation for a favorable review and the opinions contained here are strictly my own personal ones. Fans of Christian Dystopian fiction will love this series as an alternative to Divergent, Hunger Games and others, and still provides readers with that same sense of suspense and heart stopping adrenaline you would expect as you are turning pages as fast as you can read. You just never know who are the true heroes and enemies in this series and wonder just where it will all go by the time the third novel rolls out. Truly had me guessing and reguessing all the way to the end. Well worth another 4.5 out of 5 stars in my opinion. A Reader's Discussion Guide is included at the conclusion of this novel that is perfect for book clubs.

For more information about The Calling, Rachelle Dekker or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Calling by Rachelle Dekker

You can find Rachelle Dekker on Facebook, to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

For more reviews on The Calling, please visit Tyndale House Publisher's website.

Room for Hope

Imagine that the life you believed was truly yours was simply one built upon lies. The marriage and love you shared with your husband is not what you thought it was and the future you believed in was void and empty. That is just what Neva Shillings is coming to terms with. As the wife of Warren Shillings, a very successful traveling merchant, who leaves every other month to sell his wares on the road and pick up new items for their store in Buffalo Creek, Kansas. While she waits for him to return home along with their two children, she can't imagine a more perfect life. They never want for anything and Warren always insists that they have the very best.

When a wagon pulls up outside, she had hoped it was Warren, but it was simply another man with a wagon full of goods. Not unheard of since many were selling their wares now that the depression was hitting so many families hard in the area, so as she prepared to address his concerns, she wasn't as prepared as she had hoped. Deputy Jesse Caudel arrives with more than a wagon load of stuff for Ms. Shilling. He has news that Warren and his wife Violet are dead and the things in the wagon are what is left after everything has been sold to cover their debts including three of their children. He has been instructed to drop everything off to Neva, their aunt.

Neva is devastated to learn that all those business trips were simply an excuse to go back to Warren's illegitimate wife and family, one she had no clue about until today, along with the fact, they had three children. Knowing how kind hearted she is, Warren probably believed there was no way that Neva would turn them away to spend their lives in an orphanage, something she was familiar with, being an orphan herself. She is completely lost in how she will deal with these circumstances, and the aftermath of what the people of Buffalo Creek will think when they learn that Warren Shilling was far from being the man they all believed he was.

I received Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer compliments of WaterBrook Multnomah Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my personal and honest evaluation. I love novels that take the reader into a part of history that conveys a sense of hardship in the midst of dire circumstances. One in which Neva has relied on her husband to provide for their financially, even though she had helped out in the mercantile. She doesn't know how to order supplies, fill the inventory or even arrange for its delivery since it was all done by her husband. In addition to the three of them, she now has managed to take on the responsibility of three additional children, in the worst of times in the country. Just the fact of her husband's affair could leave her with more problems than she ever imagined in a world where morality and character counted for everything in a families name. Well worth all 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about Room For Hope, Kim Vogel Sawyer or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer 

You can find Kim Vogel Sawyer on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Room for Hope, please visit WaterBrook Multnomah's website. 

Come to the Garden

We can always look back at our life in times of struggle and hardship and find growth there. There is a clarity that comes with time we might miss if we aren't too careful to pay attention. Life experiences are often the best teacher. However we can fail to learn from them as well and wonder where God was in the midst of those times as well.

In the inspirational book, Come to the Garden by Jennifer Wilder Morgan, she incorporates the fictional story of an interaction between Jennifer and her guardian angel Margaret who she encounters one morning in her garden. Margaret shows Jenn through a retelling of events, dreams and visions she has had over her life, how God has been using those experiences to teach her more about the great love that God has for her as His daughter. While some situations clearly point these things out, others remained cloaked in a bit of mystery that Margaret walks Jenn through. Not everything that happens in our life can seem relevant until we can often gain some much needed godly perspective in them.

For me, this novel took me to those spiritually dry places in my own walk with God when I failed to see how He was using those times for me to grow in ways I couldn't have any other way. Only in that hindsight can we see with the clarity that God can provide when we seek Him with all our heart. Now being in my garden definitely will bring to mind this book and the ideas behind what goes on in our life. We might not always gain the insight this side of heaven, but knowing that God never leaves us in any situation despite how dark things look is a definite spiritual boost.

I received Come to the Garden by Jennifer Wilder Morgan compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this book for my fair and honest evaluation. Now perhaps I know why I am always drawn to the quiet of a beautiful garden. Perhaps my own angelic encounter awaits one day, but for now I am willing to trust God in all things. For me, this one was a 4 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about Come to the Garden, Jennifer Wilder Morgan or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Come to the Garden by Jennifer Wilder Morgan

You can find Jennifer Wilder Morgan on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Come To the Garden, please visit Howard Book's website. 

Brush of Wings

Series of novels when you first begin them are incredible, but at some point they all come to an end much too soon. This is the feeling that I had when I picked up Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury, the third and final novel in the Angels Walking Series, I have loved from its inception. I hate it when things come to an end like this one did. Even though it ended as I had hoped, it is still bittersweet when you understand that there will be no more coming. Nothing to look forward to. It's like saying goodbye when you just were looking forward to so much more.

For those of you looking for a great and compelling spiritual warfare series, you might just want to give this one a shot. It doesn't really focus on the spiritual aspect as much as other novels I have read, but that is the point. You don't want to lose focus on the reason for angels being called to their mission. You don't want the focus to be all on them and not on the humans God has called them to assist. If this group of four angelic beings doing not succeed at saving the life of Mary Catherine, then they have failed multiple generations in the process. Mary Catherine is struggling to come to terms with the meaning of life. She has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure and her doctor desperately wants her to consider being placed on a donor list. But Mary Catherine argues that even if she waits for six months, she isn't guaranteed a heart. She could die in the waiting, and that just isn't living for her.

She manages to convince him to allow her to go to Africa to begin work on an orphanage there for six months and if things get worse, she will return home immediately. As much as he would like to convince her to stay, he relents. Mary Catherine doesn't want anyone to know because she knows if she tells them the truth, they will not understand and will keep her home. While she doesn't necessarily lie, she isn't forth coming when her parents, her roommate Sami or the man who loves her Marcus, tries to figure out the sudden urge to go to Africa right now. So Mary Catherine pushes them away and plans her trip anyway. It's not until she has been in Africa, that things begin to go horribly wrong, and soon she realizes that all her best intentions may have been in vain when she grows deadly ill.

I received Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury compliments of Howard Books, a division of Simon and Schuster Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest evaluation. This is so worth every single 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion and I truly loved the dynamics that developed in this final novel as the relationships between Tyler and Sami as well as Marcus and Mary Catherine played out in the manner you would hope. It shows how well God has things planned and how sometimes there might just be an angel or two involved in making it all happen without anyone's knowledge. I believe that is the point, to keep the angels in the background as supporting characters and not have them showcased in the lime light. This was a wonderful balance that worked out extraordinarily well in the end. I will sure miss this series!

For more information about Brush of Wings, Karen Kingsbury or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

Brush of Wings by Karen Kingsbury

You can find Karen Kingsbury on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on Brush of Wings, please visit Howard Book's website. 

The Red Door Inn

I have heard someone say, you can never outrun your problems and that is true. No matter how far you run, one day you will have to face them. The problem with running is that it only delays them but never makes them disappear as much as we would like. That is true for both of the main characters we meet in The Red Door Inn, by Liz Johnson. This is the first novel in the Prince Edward Island Dreams Series, and one I thoroughly enjoyed from cover to cover. Marie Carrington is running all right, the only problem is that she has run out of money before she gets to where she wanted to go. Prince Edward Island. Not to mention that she is hungry and with only a handful of dollars, she is about to come to the end of her journey. Jack Sloane can see it in her eyes even though she won't admit it, that she needs help. If his wife Rose was still alive, she would have seen it sooner. He just hopes he is able to convince her to let him. When Jack poses questions about colors on an Inn he is restoring, she seems to have all the right answers. So he offers her a job working with him and his grandson in restoring an old Inn into a Bed and Breakfast.

Jack's offer is perfect! A way to arrive at her dream location, and have a place to stay and earn some money doing what she loves the most. Feeling that Jack is just finding excuses to help her out of her dire situation however, she relents if only to get to the island. She can always leave anytime she is ready. Without it, she doesn't know what she will do. The last thing she expects is to be under the scrutiny of Jack's grandson, Seth, who believes that Marie is only after her grandfather's money. Like every good book, one can not be too quick to judge it only by the cover, but Seth knows what that feels like. He trusted his finacè until she convinced him to set up a joint bank account before they were married. Merely a technicality she called it and one less thing to worry about doing after they were married. But it soon robbed him of more than his financial with holdings, it stole his business right out from under him and convinced him that people aren't who they say they are. Trust is now a huge issue for him and he doesn't need Marie helping them to get the Inn open anyway.

It will take more than simply all of them working together to fulfill Jack's dream of opening this Inn as he promised Rose, it will take learning how to trust, how to be honest, and how to learn to love again despite the odds facing them all. It will teach them all a lesson in what family truly means and it may not just be the one you were born into that makes a difference. Sometimes it is difficulties that draw us to one another, other times, it is the desire to help when people simply want to keep walls around themselves to prevent people from hurting them anymore. Like any great restoration project, sometimes you have to tear things down to discover the beauty that lies beneath.

I received The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson compliments of Revell Publishers for my honest review. I did not receive any monetary compensation, aside from a free copy of this novel in exchange for my honest and personal evaluation. I love the entire premise behind this novel, a beautiful secluded island where you can't run from your problems, and that small town feel that comes with getting to know the people who live there. From the delicious breakfast treats baked by Caden that makes you crave anything Liz describes in her novel, to the charming antiques that are sold by Aretha Franklin, not the singer! This is the perfect novel for those looking for a virtual vacation into something truly wonderful! I inhaled this one in hours while sick in bed and for a time, it made my life something sweeter than it was at the moment. It took me to another place in time and when an author can do that, it's a winner in my mind. This one truly deserves 5 out of 5 stars in my opinion.

For more information about The Red Door Inn, Liz Johnson or where you can pick up a copy of this novel today, please click on the links below:

The Red Door Inn by Liz Johnson

You can find Liz Johnson on Facebook to stay up to date on all her latest novels.

To read more reviews on The Red Door, please visit Revell Publisher's website.