Category Archives: Book Talk

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie

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This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy novels such as The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today by clicking on the link at the end! Tell your friends by sharing this blog post!

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Have you ever wondered what your life would have been like if – in the past – when you were facing a big decision – if you’d decided differently – what would your life be like today?

Heaven help me, this story was amazing! The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie is about Lolly, a young woman who is dissatisfied with her life. She wonders how her life would have been if she’d made different choices. One of her biggest regrets is that things didn’t work out with Rory Shaw, her childhood crush. Rory was her neighbor and her friend. Her eccentric aunt gives her a gift – 3 magical lemon drops. When you eat one before bed, think about one of the big decisions in your life – what if you’d decided differently? The lemon drop will allow you to spend one day in your “present” life in an alternate-type universe. This “alternate universe” would show how your life would have been like, if you’d made a different decision.

Lolly is full of hopes and dreams – so for three nights – she’s given the chance to see how her lost dreams would have played out if she’d embraced her decisions and pursued her desires.

What I loved most about this book was that it seemed so realistic. I believe most of us wonder – what would have happened if? Do you have certain dreams that you’ve always wanted to pursue?

Lolly is dedicated to her family. Her dedication is over the top, and it really affects her life. The family diner means so much to her and she knows how much her father wants their establishment to be a success. She gets up early every morning to bake six lemon meringue pies – using her mom’s secret recipe. The pies are served in their diner – a favorite for many of their customers.

Another reason I enjoyed this story was that it mentioned food – a lot! I love foodie-themed stories. So, if you’ve enjoyed the novels that I’ve written, then you’ll love this book!

The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie teaches us that sometimes it’s okay to pursue your dreams – although placing the needs of others before your own is noble – it’s not always the right decision.

By the way, I noticed that The Magic of Lemond Drop Pie will be made into a Hallmark movie. The premise sounds like it might be a nice fit for Hallmark Movies and Mysteries!

So, have you ever wondered what your life would have been like when you were facing a big decision – if you’d decided differently – what would your life be like today? Do you regret NOT following your hopes and dreams? Have you thought about pursuing some of your hopes and desires now?

This blog post was sponsored by Divine Desserts Publishing LLC. If you enjoy novels such as The Magic of Lemon Drop Pie then you must read Loving Luke by Cecelia Dowdy. Loving Luke is about a reunion between Luke and Kim, two childhood sweethearts. It’s a Christmas novel full of love, regrets, and second chances. There’s also a bakery and plenty of delicious desserts wrapped within this amazing story. Can Luke and Kim find the courage to overcome their hang-ups and learn to love again? Loving Luke has been an Amazon bestselling novel with several 5-star reviews! Purchase today by clicking on the link at the end! Tell your friends by sharing this blog post!

Subscribe to this blog by leaving a reply and selecting “Notify me of new posts by email.”

LOVING LUKE

The Classics

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I’ve been thinking about reading some of the classics.

This is a list of books that I acquired from Artificial Intelligence.

The list didn’t include full canons, such as those from Shakespeare and Edgar Allen Poe.

Which of these have you read?

Would you recommend any of these?

Are there any books on this list that you haven’t read – but wished that you had?

I’ve placed an asterisk beside the titles that I’ve read.

Ancient Classics

  1. The Epic of Gilgamesh
  2. The Iliad by Homer
  3. The Odyssey by Homer
  4. The Aeneid by Virgil
  5. Metamorphoses by Ovid
  6. The Republic by Plato

Classical Literature

  1. The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
  2. The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer
  3. Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes

Renaissance to Enlightenment

  1. Paradise Lost by John Milton
  2. Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
  3. Candide by Voltaire

19th Century

  1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
  2. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
  3. Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë *
  4. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë *
  5. Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
  6. War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
  7. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
  8. Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  9. Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert *
  10. Les Misérables by Victor Hugo *
  11. The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky
  12. Middlemarch by George Eliot

Early 20th Century

  1. Ulysses by James Joyce
  2. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald *
  3. 1984 by George Orwell
  4. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
  5. To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf
  6. The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner

Mid to Late 20th Century

  1. Catch-22 by Joseph Heller
  2. One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
  3. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
  4. Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
  5. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
  6. Beloved by Toni Morrison *
  7. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
  8. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

Non-English Classics

  1. The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (Japan)
  2. Journey to the West by Wu Cheng’en (China)
  3. One Thousand and One Nights (Middle Eastern collection)
  4. Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (Nigeria)
  5. The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov (Russia)

Modern Classics

  1. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
  2. The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
  3. Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie

This list includes works from various cultures and periods, representing a broad spectrum of the human experience through literature.

Any Dream Will Do

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Any Dream Will Do by Debbie Macomber

Have you ever been forced to make a fresh start in a new environment? How did you handle it? Did you fit in?

When Shay is released from prison, she’s alone with no place to go. When she shows up at a church, she encounters Drew, a widower/pastor/single father. He’s still grieving over his wife’s untimely death and when he spots Shay, it’s during a dark moment in his life. He kindly offers Shay his help.

Shay is a bit suspicious of Drew, but, she accepts his help. After all, she has no choice. She has a chip on her shoulder since she’d been imprisoned for embezzlement. She’d only stolen the money to help her younger brother, Caden. After all, his life would be in danger if she didn’t give him the money.

Her mistake cost her years in prison, and now she’s ready to make a fresh start.

This book showed how judgmental and superficial Christians can be. Although a congregation should follow Jesus’s example, that doesn’t always happen. Sometimes, you just have to ask a congregation, What would Jesus do?

I loved to see Shay change and grow within this story. She got along with Drew’s children and they loved her. Drew finds he enjoys spending time with Shay, but, her past proves to be problematic for several in the congregation.

I thought this was a refreshing book and it was a bit different than Macomber’s other books. I guess it was different because it was about an ex-con, trying to make a fresh start. Shay gives it her best, leaning on Jesus for guidance.

So, have you ever been forced to make a fresh start in a new environment? How did you handle it? Did you fit in?

Above All Things

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Above All Things by Deborah Raney

Have you ever discovered a big secret about your spouse? Was the secret so big that it affected your marriage?

Judd and Evette are happily married, expecting their first child. Judd receives a phone call: his former fiancée is hospitalized and for the first day time, he’s become aware that he has a six-year-old bi-racial daughter. He needs to come and get his child (Jolie) since the child’s mother cannot care for her.

Evette is stunned to hear this news. She has mixed feelings about bringing a biracial daughter into their home. Judd is just as stunned as he wonders why his ex never shared that he’d fathered a child.

This novel touches upon a lot of deep subjects. The main themes are race relations and forgiveness. Overall a good read. The author did a great job with research regarding African-Americans. I especially liked how she addressed the issue of Jolie’s hair – extremely realistic.

So, have you ever discovered a big secret about your spouse? Was the secret so big that it affected your marriage?