Grow Up

 

Title: Grow Up  Game System: PC (Steam)  Game Type: Simulation

When you first start the game you get a letter from your parents. You can pick how your parents look and your gender and then your name. Or you can leave most of it up to random. You will then go through stages from 1 to 18 by talking with kids at school and your parents. You can get a relationship with one of your friends. You use what's called a "brain map" to be able to get points so you may study and do entertainment. You pick some of the subjects you study. How you do on tests and how you respond to your friends and parents is how you will be dressed. I enjoy this game a bit more probably then I should but I am glad I own it and can nerd out. It's a nice relaxing game. Kind of like Sims but not as intricate.  

Sisters One, Two, Three

 Title: Sisters One, Two, Three  Author: Nancy Star  Pages: 354 Genre: Fiction/Mystery

Ginger is a very worried Mother, but not just about her child she worries about everything and doesn't know how to stop. As an adult she takes care of her Mother and tries to have a relationship with her 17 year old daughter which is hanging by a thread. The tighter she held on her daughter the more her daughter slipped through her fingers. As a last attempt to connect they take a family trip to see some colleges when the secret comes out for her daughter to hear that she doesn't just have one aunt, she has 2 aunts and an uncle. This story is about the canyon a secret can make and what it can do to those we love. Ginger loses her daughter for her to "find herself" and finds out her youngest sister Callie is alive and well when they haven't spoken in 25 years the death of their Mother brings the sisters together and to remember the brother they have lost long ago. 

I really enjoyed this book. I literally couldn't put it down. Maybe it has something to do with I am in a similar circumstance (other then the secrets) and I related to the sisters one way or another about what happened. When people we love die its sometimes hard to talk about them without someone getting upset. So we learn to just bite our tongues and not speak of the difficult matter. However eventually everything comes to light. 

Fable 2

Title: Fable 2  Game System: Xbox One  Game type: Fantasy

You pick if you want to be male or female and you start your story. Some of the story line can not be changed at all however you can pick how you react to things and it puts you closer to being angelic or evil. You can change your clothes but there is no armor with it. The clothes are for looks or to help you be evil, aggressive, attractive and much more. You go through and the main objective is to seek revenge on the man that kills your sister when you are just a child. You will go from being a child to a full grown adult with kids of your own if you so choose. After you defeat Lucian you have a choice to make out of three that effects the whole of Albion not just you. You can continue to play and maintain your character after you have beat Lucian. 

I really enjoyed this game. I have for many years from when it came out. The graphics when it came out were amazing and very lifelike, over the years the graphics don't seem as good but for the time it was made it was fantastic! There are a lot of side quests to help you along on becoming good or evil. There is also a lot of ways to make money to help you buy the best of the best. It is obvious there was a lot of time and effort put into the game and I enjoy playing it over and over. I hope you enjoy it as well if you play. Happy Gaming!!

Emotional and Sexual Intimacy in Marriage: How to Connect or Reconnect With Your Spouse, Grow Together, and Strengthen Your Marriage

Title: Emotional and Sexual Intimacy in Marriage  Author: Marcus and Ashley Kusi  Pages:  162  Genre: Self Help

~I was asked to review this book~

Marcus and Ashley have made another book about how to strengthen your relationship. There is so much in this book. It talks about the finer details on how to expand and grow as yourself and with your spouse and some tips on how to do so! The fact that Marcus opens up and tell us the readers that he had to learn about "being a man" and that it doesn't mean that guys never cry, quite the opposite. A man that is in-tune with his feelings can typically get the girls easier since we women can connect deeper with them. It is nice to read a book about how to repair or just make your marriage better from people that have been there and its not just from one point of view it is from both of them and I think that makes this valuable! There isn't just great insite in the book there are links to their site www.ourpeacefulfamily.com to help you with steps along the way to help you become the couple you want to be. There are also questions in the book you can answer with your spouse so it isn't just a sit down and read there are questions you can answer and get to know each other and your goals as a couple more thoroughly.
Although it is packed with a ton of information that we know sometimes we forget its the simple day to day things that make our marriage and our relationships in general work. You want to tell your best friend everything so why not do the same with the spouse. Even if they are two separate people.
One of my favorite chapters was the one about spiritual intimacy. I think its one of the things my husband and I struggle with the most and I have never thought that there are ways around not sharing the same beliefs and sharing with your kids. It's about the core learning and feelings not all the extra stuff. One of the things that makes the books from Marcus and Ashley unique is that they add their own personal stories to it as well so its not just "this is how you fix it" they add their own personal touch that they have gone through it and they want others to not have to. Although it is apart of being a couple.

A Discovery of Witches

Title; A Discovery of Witches  Author: Deborah Harkness  Pages: 579  Genre: Fantasy

Diana wasn't your typical witch (if she was would their be a book?) She lost her parents at a young age and didn't want anything to do with magic even though her Aunt tried to get her to. It's not until she is an adult working at a college in England where the twists start. She gets a manuscript that changes everything and to top it off a Vampire is watching her. The vampire Matthew turns into a great ally and friend to keep Diana safe from the new foes that come around because she brought out this manuscript that has the beginning of time of how the creatures were created. From this all of Diana's powers start letting themselves be known and there are a ton of creatures she has to face alone and with Matthew to survive.

I absolutely loved this book. It was recommended to me by a friend and I hated being an adult and having work and kids and responsibilities where I had to put the book down. It got my attention pretty early on and caught my attention more and more as the story was reaching its climax. Deborah did a wonderful job of the story, characters and imagery. I really hope I can find the second book soon so I can continue this story to see what happens next! 

First Year of Marriage

Title: First Year of Marriage   Author: Marcus and Ashley Kusi  Pages: 134  Genre: Self Help

~Asked to review by author~

The book has a lot of pointers and ways to check where your marriage stands and how to get it to where you want it to be. We all come from different backgrounds but when you get married you need to have a direction to go as a couple and as a new family unit. 

While I read this book I felt like I was sitting in a comfortable room talking to them like you would your friends about the ups and downs about marriage. They even open up about some of the trials they had at the beginning of their marriage and how they overcame them and became a stronger couple and unit for their kids and how they communicated and changed and adapted to each other and grew! I very much enjoyed this book and it is a high recommendation for everyone to read. It isn't something I read and just put on a shelf. It is something I will read again to make sure I am where I want to be in my marriage and life. 

Communication in Marriage

Title: Communication in Marriage  By: Marcus and Ashley Kusi   Pages: 86  Genre: Self-Help

~Was asked to review book by author~

This book is small and to the point of how to help communicate with your partner to have a happier healthier marriage. It states at the beginning that if you don't communicate you don't have anything. I enjoyed reading this to find more ways I can communicate with my husband more effectively. 

Marcus and Ashley both put their hearts and souls on these pages to help couples all over the world see that all issues can stem from not communicating and I think they did beautifully! I recommend this to everyone to read and put to use in their own marriages or relationships in general :)

The 5 Love Languages

Title: The 5 Love Languages     By: Gary Chapman    Pages: 209   Genre: Self-Help

Not any one marriage is perfect. There are 5 main ways to speak "love" to someone you love. This book lists them and gives you details and examples on how it has changed marriages that started out rough and because they applied the love languages how dramatically it changed for the better!

I enjoyed reading this and getting a perspective that I didn't see before. I did read some reviews that stated some of this is common sense and I agree, but sometimes you forget that people don't feel loved the same way you do. I recommend this to everyone that is going to get married or are married. Even if you don't see any problems in your relationship I would still suggest to read it because you can't go wrong with improving your relationships that mean the most to you right?