Book Reviews | Julie Saffrin

HOPE IN AN UPSIDE-DOWN WORLD

April 12, 2020 • Julie Saffrin • 6 Comments

Earlier this week, I watched a person give a live devotional with the camera placed in such a way that she appeared upside down. Her message was still excellent and the video was a-righted in time, but the captured moment seemed a perfect metaphor for the world we’re living in now. Upside-down world. A friend in Wisconsin recently posted on her Facebook page: Just so I NEVER forget….. April 2, 2020 Gas price a mile from home was $2.08 School cancelled – yes cancelled Self-distancing measures on the rise. Tape on the floors at grocery stores and others to help…

WHEN MOUNTAINS SING BY STACY MONSON. A REVIEW

August 7, 2019 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

When Mountains Sing book Cover | https://juliesaffrin.com

My favorite kind of story is one that holds my attention, has memorable characters, and leaves you thinking about it after you have finished it. Well, it’s been four days and I can’t, nor do I want to, stop thinking about this book, When Mountains Sing by Stacy Monson. So many takeaways, including the title’s meaning. It’s beautifully written, with not an ounce of a saggy middle, and lots of belly laughs and touchingly tender moments. Most importantly, I’m not a person who likes camping so much, but I want to be a friend to HIKER GIRL! And you’ll want to…

INTERVIEW WITH MINNESOTA AUTHOR CONNIE LOUNSBURY AND BOOK GIVEAWAY

January 26, 2017 • Julie Saffrin • 10 Comments

I feel somewhat like a mosquito at a beach about expressing all that I loved about this book. I know what to do, but I don’t know where to start to persuade you to read A Hobo’s Wish by Minnesota author Connie Lounsbury. I guess I’ll start with its premise: A description of the book on Amazon states, After a tragic mistake during The Great Depression, Dr. Pete Walters becomes penniless, forced to ride the rails along with thousands of other unemployed men and women, surviving by trading labor for food, or asking for handouts. Will he find the trust and the…

NICE, FRANCE AND THE WINNER OF EBOOK GIVEAWAY

July 15, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 2 Comments

Thinking about Nice, France today and the horribleness of the terrorist attack along the Promenade Des Anglais. Eighty-four people were killed by a madman, at least 10 of them children, on Bastille Day 2016. This image is a symbol of my heart going out to France and those who grieving. Hard to announce the winner of the ebook giveaway in light of France’s tragedy. But I do want to thank of you who who left comments for a chance to win Sue Russell’s latest release, An Iron Yoke. It was meaningful that so many people read this blog post. Sue…

AN INTERVIEW WITH BRITISH AUTHOR SUE RUSSELL OF KENT COUNTY, UK

July 11, 2016 • Julie Saffrin • 12 Comments

In the course of doing research on British novelist Sue Russell, I learned of her having played the piano for a ballet school, scrubbed steps in hospitals, volunteered as a Samaritan for 17 years, and taught English in Indonesia. But what fascinated me most, from a writer’s viewpoint, was discovering Sue knew she wanted to be a writer when she was a young girl. I couldn’t help but smile when I read that by 12 she had a handful of rejection slips. Ahh, to quote another British writer, Jane Austen, the half agonies and half hopes of a writer. Decades later, Sue’s friends put up a challenge.…

Poems for Life

June 4, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

Today is Day 2 in the June 2015 Challenge in Pictures or Words. Not sure how I stumbled upon my favorite book of poems, Poems for Life, but I love the concept of its compilation. When I bought the book, The Nightingale-Bamford School was not on my radar. A quick look online and I learned it’s an all-girls prep school in Manhattan. According to the Teacher’s Note in the book, the origination of the idea behind this collection of poems came from a 1992 Irish anthology of poems entitled Lifelines. Lifelines had its beginnings in 1985 with Dublin students at Wesley College…

Day 3 #QuoteILove for Moments in May 2015 Challenge

May 3, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

“Normal day, let me be aware of the treasure you are.” Author Unknown I don’t know how you finished April. I finished it well. Celebrated my youngest’s birthday, found and returned all the library books I’d borrowed on the subject of resilience, and booked two writing-related getaways – one of which I embarked upon this weekend with fellow writers from across the state of Minnesota. I also finished listening to and reading Laura McBride’s debut novel We are Called to Rise. I cannot stop thinking about this book since I finished it a week ago. I read it based upon the…

5 Spring Reads

April 16, 2015 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

<a href=”http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/13965849/?claim=53dccu8dvf2″>Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a> My husband knows how much I hate winter in Minnesota. So, he proposed we take one week each in January, February and March to get away to a warmer climate. I think I’ve found a cure for my winter blues. During my times away I had a lot of time to catch up on reading. Here are my favorites: 1. If You Find This Letter by Hannah Brencher I read this book in two days. It’s Hannah Brencher’s non-fiction story of how she sets out to be not another number in the cog in the current…

New Book by Julie Saffrin: “Kissing the Shoreline: Quotes and Reflections to Live By”

September 8, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • Leave a Comment

KissingtheShoreline | https://juliesaffrin.com

Two seemingly unrelated things happened in the summer of 2014. 1. My birthday. 2. Being restlessly perturbed. Converging upheavals tend to disturb life’s even keel. I was a year older in June and questioned what I had done to show for it. I did what I always do when upheavals pile up. I go into semi-seclusion and reach for a book. In this case, one of Julia Cameron’s. A random open and two words in I found the reason for my funk. “Finish something.” It comes easy to me to start something. As well, I consider myself an in-process person.…

Forgotten Past interview with author Mary Alford

June 4, 2014 • Julie Saffrin • 4 Comments

One of my intents at Saffrin & Company is to make connections with people who are amazing inspirers. Mary Alford is one such person. Her first published suspense book, Forgotten Past, just released this first week of June 2014. She has graciously offered to give away a book through a random drawing to someone who leaves a comment or question for Mary at juliesaffrin.com. Mary and I have a mutual interest in suspense writers. Prolific and early women suspense writers such as Phyllis A. Whitney and Victoria Holt served as Mary’s inspiration to keep working to make her publishing dreams become real. Today…

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