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A Love to Behold
A Love to Behold
10
10.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Two years after the Civil War, Lydia Albright, 27, is an established teacher in Boston when she senses God’s call to leave the comfort and security of her job and go south. She accepts a position to teach in a school for former slaves in Charleston, South Carolina. A church there that’s affiliated with the American Missionary Association offers support, along with room and board at the parsonage. The Ku Klux men are hell-bent on seeing that the new school fails. Lydia’s life is threatened, and the parsonage, church, and school are vandalized. But they haven’t contended with a strong, determined woman like Lydia before. It also helps that she has a couple potential suitors on her side. A Love to Behold is a tale of people who grow strong in the face of adversity and a church that learns love, compassion, and acceptance, even in the face of just cruelty and hatred.



My Thoughts: This is more than just a charming romance novel. It is the story of a young woman determined to answer God's calling on her life and nothing will stop her from doing so.


This is also a novel teaching us to love one another no matter what our differences may be. This is a story about compassion, determination, acceptance and overcoming affliction hen it is presented to us. It's holding on through the storm.


I really truly enjoyed this novel. The characters were all amazing, both the main and the supporting characters all worked well together. The storyline was fast-paced; there are no slow spots in this book.


This book comes highly recommended.
  
40x40

Jim LeBaron (69 KP) rated Terraforming Mars in Tabletop Games

Mar 12, 2019 (Updated Mar 12, 2019)  
Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars
2016 | Business / Industrial, Economic, Environmental, Science Fiction, Territory Building
Smooth Game-play (2 more)
Good Replay Value
Theme
Games go a little long for many groups (2 more)
Player boards need trays
Rule book isn't great
Making Their World a Better Place
What a great game. I've played this a few times now and still really like it. It does take a while to teach/learn but once you get going it is really cemented because you are repeating your actions each turn. The end game conditions are very clear so it is easy to see when you are approaching the end of the game. The biggest challenge for me in this game is making hard decisions about which tracks to pursue and which ones to leave alone. I want them all! There is some player conflict but I would say it is minimal, most of your effort will be on building your own corporation.
The games I have played have been 2-3 hours which is fine for me but tends to be a little long for more casual gamers. Each game has been different since you get a random corporation and you don't know which cards you are going to end up with. I'm looking forward to getting the expansions which have additional maps and more cards.
The player boards end up with a lot of cubes on them and if the table gets bumped it can be disastrous so I would recommend the overlay trays that keep the cubes in place. These can be 3d printed or purchased from several locations. It would be great if they fixed this by doing a raised board in a future printing.
  
Dark Souls: The card game
Dark Souls: The card game
2018 | Card Game
Really captures the atmosphere of Dark Souls (3 more)
Forces players to work together if they want to survive
The deck building allows you to customise your play style
A fun and replayable solo mode
The rulebook is confusing to say the least (3 more)
The setup and take down of the game is time consuming
This is not a game for those with short attention spans
Boss fights feel anticlimactic
Great idea, bad execution
The Dark Souls card game is a deep card game that has good replay value and a customisable deck building system that really feels like it exists in the Souls universe. If you enjoy the video game series and deck building games, then you're going to love the Dark Souls board game.

If you are planning on playing it though, you're going to need a few hours free to clear a full game. Most of the games I've played have been 3 hours from setup to takedown, though I have had games as short as 2 hours and as long as 4, it really depends on the skill and experience of your play group. Fortunately, DS is a mostly skill based game with elements of luck that you'd expect from any card game. Build your deck right and play as a team and you shouldn't have too many problems though.

In short, this is a great way to spend an evening, but it's definitely not a game you'll want to play every week. Pick it up and bring it out when you fancy a challenge, you won't regret having it in your collection.
  
Staging is Murder
Staging is Murder
Grace Topping | 2019 | Mystery
7
7.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
Starting a New Business is Murder
Laura Bishop is just getting her home staging business off the ground, and she is thrilled to land Victoria Denton as her first client. Victoria can make her reputation in their small Pennsylvania town. Unfortunately, Victoria also has a reputation for being hard to work with, and Laura is finding that all too true. Working late one night, Laura is shocked to find Victoria’s dead body. When the police arrest Laura’s assistant, she decides she needs to look into the crime to find out what really happened. But can she do it?

Since this is the first in a new series, we get to meet quite a few new characters here. I enjoyed Laura and her friends, although they do have a little room to grow as the series progresses. The plot starts off strong, but bogs down a bit as Laura struggles to figure out how to start her investigation. Not that I can say much since I identify with her struggle. Once she gets moving, thanks in part to some blunt questions from her friends (again, too much like me), the story picks up and I was fully on board. The climax was creative and answered all our questions. Laura is a mystery fan herself, and I enjoyed her comparing herself to the main characters in the books she’s read. Each chapter starts with tips on staging your home, and they made me very thankful that I am not planning on selling my condo any time soon due to all the work involved. I’ll just enjoy reading about Laura’s efforts to stage houses and solve mysteries.