Full Disclosure

Full Disclosure
Written by Dee Henderson
Published at Bethany House

About the book

PAUL FALCON AND ANN SILVER: A LOVE STORY

Ann Silver is a cop's cop. As the Midwest Homicide Investigator, she is called in to help local law enforcement on the worst of cases, looking for answers to murder. Hers is one of the region's most trusted investigative positions.

Paul Falcon is the FBI's top murder cop in the Midwest. If the victim carried a federal badge or had a security clearance, odds are good Paul and his team see the case file or work the murder.

Their lives intersect when Ann arrives to pass a case off her desk and onto his. A car wreck and a suspicious death offer a lead on a hired shooter he is tracking. Paul isn't expecting to meet someone, the kind that goes on the personal side of the ledger, but Ann Silver has his attention.

The better he gets to know her, the more Paul realizes her job barely scratches the surface of who she is. She knows spies and soldiers and U.S. Marshals, and has written books about them. She is friends with the former vice president. People with good reason to be cautious about who they let into their lives deeply trust her. Paul wonders just what secrets Ann is keeping, until she shows him the John Doe Killer case file, and he starts to realize just who this lady he is falling in love with really is....

Who is Dee Henderson?

Dee Henderson is the bestselling, award-winning author of 15 previous novels, including the acclaimed O'MALLEY series and UNCOMMON HEROES series. She is a lifelong resident of Illinois. Learn more at www.deehenderson.com.

My Thoughts

I was intrigue and attracted by this book because of its FBI/cop storyline.  What I hadn’t realized was there was a love story intertwined through the chapters.   Probably a good thing because I am not a huge fan of romance novels but this book is absolutely written differently than romance novels.  It contains murders, mystery and secrets.   As the pages are flipped and you advance in the story, you get hooked with the main characters, you wonder what Ann is hiding, and how come the paths of Paul and Ann have not crossed before since they have so many people that are in their lives at the same time.

It was hard for me to put the book down but duties as a mom and teacher to my kids required me to leave the book down every once in a while.    One Friday morning, my oldest son had an appointment at the children’s hospital to check out his ankle that had been put in a 3/4 cast the previous Sunday.   Full Disclosure found its way into my bag and I was able to read quite a bit while we waited.   Turned out that he only had a bad sprain (thank goodness!).  

Having a love story happening during the development of murder investigations and a big FBI case is very different.   I really enjoyed discovering who Ann Silver is, how Paul Falcon slowly and surely acquired her trust and fell in love for her, how he took care of her and how she opened up her heart to him.    I am completely in love with the characters an hope that Dee Henderson will write a follow-up book on the story of Paul & Ann.   The book finishes leaving you wanting more and wondering how their life will change in the future.  

If you are looking into a great book to read while on the bus or at night, Full Disclosure is a title you need to consider.  

Watch this video which might picked your interest about the book.

Full Disclosure is available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group, even at amazon.ca and amazon.com.  It is also available on CD and for the Kindle.

Amazon.ca

Books on Tape

Amazon.com

Kindle

 Disclaimer: The book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Complete Language Pack Italian

Complete Language Pack Italian
From DK CANADA

About the Product

This new language course from DK is perfect for travelers!

Combining the solid grounding of a practical language teaching course with the instant accessibility of a phrasebook, each Complete Language Pack is structured around simple conversations used in everyday situations. The courses cover basic vocabulary and grammar in sixty fifteen-minute daily units. Pronunciation guides and the audio CDs make speaking easy, and "cover and test" flaps and flashcards reinforce learning and make testing yourself fun.

Teaching what you need to know fast — arranged thematically, with simple conversations based on real-life situations, Complete Language Pack Italian includes the bestselling 15-Minute Language Course, Visual Phrase Book, and three audio CDs.

With a pronunciation guide for every word and phrase, a two-way dictionary that provides ready reference on the go, and a phrase book including useful cultural tips, Complete Language Pack Italian is ideal for both business and vacation travelers.

My Thoughts

Here’s another great resource to learn a new language in your spare time. Complete Language Pack Italian will guide you – 15 minutes a day – to learn Italian for your next trip in Italy or for an outing to the Italian section of your city.

I was raised for a number of years in an Italian section in Montreal more specifically in St-Léonard.   I went to school with French, English and Italian speaking kids.   I never really picked it up though I can find similarities with my mother tongue – French.    More recently, after spending over a month at a specific campsite in Toronto, I could hear a lot of Italian and wished I could understand the conversations. 

The kit comes with numerous tools; cds, book to accompany the lessons, easy grammar booklet as well as a visual phrase book. The first two CDs contains the lessons you will find in the book. In twelve weeks, you can covered all the basics conversational phrases to help you communicate with the Italian speaking people. It only takes you five minutes a day for five days in a row to complete a lesson. In each lesson, you will get some warm ups, some say it exercises, introductory paragraphs as well as cultural or conversational tips. You will also go through a review and repeat section for each lesson.

The third CD is an audio guide to the Italian Visual Phrase Book. You can either listen to the CD alone or with the book. This will help you to improve your pronunciation and build your vocabulary in the language.

Learning another language is a great skill to develop when you want to be able to converse with other people from another country.  Not only is it beneficial when travelling but it could become an asset for your workplace as well.   I want to encourage my kids to learn other languages as they grow up.   We will start and concentrate with Spanish simply because we could have the opportunity of going on mission trips as a family.  But I think it would be good to learn other languages as well like Italian for example and maybe German.    Italian is another language based on Latin so in a way picking it up might be easy for me because of my French upbringing.    And as homeschoolers it is easy for us to incorporate learning a different language as we drive or simply by using an iPod.

I know that there is other products out there to help you learn a new language but most often the price is ridiculously high. This specific product is quite reasonable in price and the quality attached to it is impressive. You can listen and repeat with the “teachers” without worrying about not being able to go back in the lesson. Anytime you want you can listen again the lesson to practice or revise it.

I was able to upload the lessons without problem on my iPod. Then you can take the book with you wherever you go and do a lesson when you have about five minutes. I would not suggest to do it while you are driving unless you have gone through the lesson once already. I find it beneficial to do the lesson once with the book so you can see the phonetic of the words at the same time. Then you can redo the lesson multiple times during the day if you want to.

Complete Language Pack Italian is great tool to help you learn a new language. All you will need is to find a friend to practice with or go explore the Italian section of your city. Once you know the basics, you can continue practicing with books or television if you want to.

The Complete Language Pack Italian is available at your favourite bookstore, even at amazon.ca and amazon.com.

    

Disclaimer: Thanks to DK Canada for sending me the above mentioned products for review purposes. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

The Amish Family Cookbook

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card authors are:

Jerry and Tina Eicher

and the book:

The Amish Family Cookbook

Harvest House Publishers; Spi edition (October 1, 2012)

***Special thanks to Ginger Chen for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHORS:

Jerry Eicher’s bestselling Amish fiction (more than 210,000 in combined sales) includes The Adams County Trilogy, the Hannah’s Heart books, and the Little Valley Series. After a traditional Amish childhood, Jerry taught for two terms in Amish and Mennonite schools in Ohio and Illinois. Since then he’s been involved in church renewal, preaching, and teaching Bible studies. Jerry lives with his wife, Tina, and their four children in Virginia.

Tina Eicher was born and married in the Amish faith, surrounded by a mother and sisters who were great Amish cooks. At fellowship meals and family gatherings, Tina’s dishes receive high praise and usually return empty. She and her husband, Jerry Eicher, author of several bestselling Amish fiction titles, are the parents of four children and live in Virginia.


Visit the author's website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

From bestselling author Jerry Eicher (more than 350,000 books sold) and his wife, Tina, comes this warm and inviting peek into an Amish kitchen, complete with recipes, Amish proverbs, and a dash of Amish humor. Readers will laugh, pray, and eat robustly with The Amish Family Cookbook at their side.

Product Details:
List Price: $ 14.99
Spiral-bound: 272 pages

Publisher: Harvest House Publishers; Spi edition (October 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736943773
ISBN-13: 978-0736943772

AND NOW...A FEW RECIPES FOR YOU TO TRY (CLICK ON PICTURES TO SEE THEM LARGER):

 My Thoughts

I am very delighted to have an Amish recipe book in my house.  I was very interested in discovering more about the kind of recipes the Amish make regularly as well as the food they eat at home and at gatherings.  The cookbook contains recipes for appetizers and beverages, breakfast, cakes, candies, cookies and bars, desserts, grilling, main dishes, pies, quick breads, salads and gelatin salads, soups and sandwiches, vegetables and side dishes as well as yeast breads.   Is your mouth salivating already?  I bet it is…  The index is mostly organized by these sections and then list the recipes found in each of these sections.  Throughout the book, you will have tidbits of Amish wisdom, Amish  humor as well as part of books written by the authors.

There were many recipes that caught my eye but I decided to go with a dessert for the first one I made out of this book. 

Our Canadian Thanksgiving was on October 8th this year and I wanted to make a special dessert for that evening.  We had a busy week-end with some of our kids sick and my oldest hurting his ankle (trip to the ER) and ending up with a 3/4 cast on that Sunday (fortunately we learned the following Friday that it was just a bad sprain!), so in a way I wanted to cheer up my family a bit.    So I chose to make a White Chocolate Raspberry Torte.     Unfortunately, when my husband went to Wal-Mart on that Sunday afternoon to get the frozen raspberries, there were none so he grabbed a mixed berries bag instead.    He jokingly said that everyone were doing the same recipe for dessert for the next day.

Ingredients:

Cake
3/4 cup of butter
2 cups of sugar
4 eggs
1 cup while chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (or one cup of warm milk with 1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice in it)

Filling
2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries (or mixed berries)
3/4 cup of water
1/2 cup of sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch

Frosting
1 package (8oz) cream cheese, softened
1 cup while chocolate chips, melted and cooled
1 carton (12 oz) whipped topping

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.   Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in melted chocolate and vanilla.  Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda; add to creamed mixture alternately with buttermilk, beating well after each addition.   Transfer to two greased and flour 9-inch round pans.  Bake at 350 for 28-32 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes before removing from pans.  Cool completely.

In a small saucepan, bring raspberries (or mixed berries) and water to a boil.   Reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Press raspberries through a sieve; discard the seeds (we decided not to do this step as we don’t mind the seeds but for someone who can’t have seeds this is an important step).  Cool.   In the same pan, combine sugar and cornstarch.  Stir in raspberry puree until smooth.   Bring to boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened.  Cool.   Spread between cake layers.

Beat cream cheese until fluffy.  Beat in melted chips and fold in whipped topping.   Spread over top and sides of cake.  Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

Well, I still had some of the fruit purée and decided to pour it on top of the cake.    

  

The cake was delicious and everyone around the table loved it. Since then I also made another recipe from the cookbook.  The Frosted Banana Bars were delicious as well.   My husband quickly said that it was becoming his favourite cookbook – and coming from a guy who don’t follow cookbook per say when cooking, it means a lot!

My only disappointment would be that there isn’t pictures of the results of the recipes in the cookbook.   I’m a visual kind of person and love to see what it would look like.  However, the recipes are easy to follow.   Another plus would be to have the nutritional information included for each recipe so that someone can determine how many calories a certain dish can be when you are watching what you eat.

If you are like me and love to discover new recipes and new flavours in your daily meals, I suggest that you look at The Amish Family Cookbook.    Not only will you learn how to cook Amish meals but you will also get some insights on the Amish life as well.

The Amish Family Cookbook is available for purchase at your favourite bookstore, even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.It is also available on the Kindle or Kindle app.

AMAZON.CA

AMAZON.COM

KINDLE