Finished :)

So I finally finished the book last night, after being "almost done" for about a week. I ruined it for myself by reading the ending... I promise not to do it again. I really did not intend to but one time my book flipped open to the last page and, oops, there it was. So, needless to say I was a little upset when I read that because I was really hoping for a different outcome. Then as I got further into the juicy details, when Brad went to talk to Emma, it was kind of hard for me to stay focused because I knew the whole time he wasn't going to get back with her. I have to admit I was really pulling for Emma. I am one who HATES change so I wanted things to go back to the way they were, back to Brad and Emma being together. I felt like Emma deserved Brad after everything they had gone through together and for the way she handled herself. Then Laura has to come and blow me out of the water by apologizing to Brad for the way SHE acted. Wow! If that wasn't convicting. It made me think about situations in my own life where I need to be more forgiving and less judgemental. Anyways... we can discuss this at our meeting :) Which, we need to plan. Does next week work? Wednesday or Friday would work the best for me. I guess we could even do next Saturday. Brunch maybe?? Just an idea. As long as we can have chips, salsa and ranch for breakfast of course! ha

One more thought. Just had to share this from my devotions (which I am trying desperately to get back in the habit of doing REGULARLY!). I'm doing a Beth Moore study on David. This really made me think. "Sometimes we stand to learn the most about God from the situations we understand the least." Hard to swallow when I'm a person who wants to have everything under control and planned. God WANTS us to depend on Him, how comforting!!

Love you all!

Red Ragtop

If any of you are familiar with Tim McGraw you might know the song Red Ragtop. It's almost like Karen Kingsbury heard this song and was inspired to write Shades of Blue. (Well that might be a stretch, but the two stories are very similar.) This song just kept creeping in my head as I was reading the book.

I found it interesting that Emma drives a ragtop for one. Also, as she is telling her story to Gavin, she speaks some of the same lyrics in the song. Coincidence? I think not.

Here are the lyrics to Tim McGraw's song, and you can decide for yourself:

I was twenty and she was eighteen,
We were just as wild as we were green, in the ways of the world
She picked me up in that red rag top,
We were free of the folks and hiding from the cops,
On a summer night runnin all the red lights
We parked way out in a clearin in a grove and the night
Was hot as a coal burnin stove,
We were cookin the gas we were had to last

In the back of that red rag top
She said please don't stop


Well the very first time her mother met me,
Her green eyed girl was a mother to be for 2 weeks
I was out of a job and she was in school,
Life was fast and the world was cruel
We were young and wild, we decided not to have a child
So we did what we did and we tried to forget
And we swore up and down there would be no regrets
In the morning light,
But on the way home that night

On the back of that red rag top
She said please don't stop...
Lovin' me

We took one more trip around the sun,
It was all make believe in the end,
No I can't say where she is today,
I can't remember who I was, back then
Well you do what you do and you pay for your sins,
And there's no such thing as what might've
Been, that's a waste of time; drive you outta your mind
I was stopped at a red light just yesterday beside a young girl
In a cabriolet and her eyes
Were green
I was in an old scene

I was back in that red rag top
On the day she stopped
Loving me
I was back in that red rag top
On the day she stopped
Loving me

THE END.

I finished the book at about 1:30am this morning!! I am not going to leave any specific comments or hints as to how it ends...sorry Sheryl. I don't want to spoil it for anyone. I'm not even going to say whether I thought the end result was enjoyable, expected or lacking. We will just have to discuss details when we meet :). Like I mentioned before, I LOVE to read and I fit it in even when I don't have the time! So, if you haven't finished the book before we have our first Binding Book Club gathering, don't fret. I promise I won't give anything away...you have my word.

I can't wait to see you all next week! When are we getting together, by the way?

Ok...final thought. I would like to leave you with this poem...

You want me,
All of me.
I am weak,
You strengthen my soul.
I am afraid,
Your words bring me courage.
I tend to stray,
You hold my hand and gently bring me back.
I am ashamed,
You pour grace over me.
I am discouraged,
You show me your faithfulness.
I am sad,
You put your loving arms around me.
I do not always listen,
You never give up.
I try to change,
You love me,
All of me.


I love you girls!!

I'm in the game now!

Hi ladies! Thanks so much for letting me be a part of your group. Since moving into the area I have yet to develop real friendships so I'm looking forward to what is ahead. I also love books and am always looking for an excuse to read. This is going to be great.

So, I might be a little behind on the blog and the book. I just picked it up from the library yesteday. Before that, I was reading from Julie's book. I'm on chapter 8 and making lots of progress!

Before chapter 7, I was thinking that most of the characters in the book seemed sqeaky clean, (with the exception of Brad and Emma's undisclosed past), which I found kind of annoying. It's hard to relate to characters in a book when everything appears to be so perfect. So when Laura met with her bible study group and the background of her friends was described I was relieved to see that the unfortunate happenings of this world apply to Christian fiction as well. This is not only my first Karen Kingsbury book but also my first Christian fiction book, so forgive my skepticism. But, I am excited to see what is going to happen next.

This is fun.

Lindsay

Emma or Laura

Ok, if you haven't gotten too far into the book you may not want to read this post but for those of us who have.... which girl are you pulling for at this point?

Whenever they're talking about Emma I fall in love with her, can't imagine how lonely she must feel. She lost her mom AND the love of her life, ugh makes me want to cry. I find myself rooting for her saying she deserves Brad more than Laura does, she's been through more with him and has more memories with him.

And Laura, so innocent, oblivious of what is going on. Then she is blindsided by Brad's confession. I want her to have Brad because he's been misleading her all this time and here she is a great Christian girl following God's will for her life and this blows up in her face. I loved how stern she was with Brad after he confessed everything, she didn't just apologize and move on. She told him how hard it was going to be let him go talk to Emma.

Ok I could go on and on but I'll stop. Post your thoughts. I don't know what "team" I'm on. (Kind of like the Twilight series, Team Jacob, Team Edward :) )

Love you!

my first blog :)

Don't really have much to say just wanted to show you that I now know how to blog... thanks to Amanda!! :) I am really enjoying this book and more than that I love that we are staying in contact so easily. It's so fun to check our blog and see what everyone's written. Does any night work for you guys next week to go out to eat to discuss the book? Wednesday does not work for me but any other night. Love you all! Read on!!!!

My First Official Blog Ever!

Well...as you can see by the title, I am not a blogging virgin anymore. I have definitely stepped into a whole other realm here (at least that's how it feels to me)! I am new at this whole, spill your thoughts on a public site, thing. So, if I am doing something wrong or out of the ordinary from the "website world rules and regulations", won't someone please give me a heads up?

About Shades of Blue...Can I just tell you all that I am LOVING this book!! I just started it today, but I couldn't put it down! I read the first 8 chapters in one sitting...Yikes! I do think it started out rather slowly though, and was a bit predictable. But, all in all, aren't all Christian Romance novels fairly predictable? Don't get me wrong...I am not trying to shine a negative light, but it's kind of true. However, I still prefer them over a random secular novel (you just never know what to expect in those). At least with a Christian book, you can assume there will be wonderful (and sometimes more dream-like than believable) ways to see our God work in a relationship between a man and a woman.

So, back to the book. I'm not sure where you are all at, chapter wise, but I definitely have some thoughts on the material thus far. I will try to be sort of vague as to not give away any juicy details, but I'm sorry if I do. I feel as though this book includes scenarios/stories that all women, who have ever had a serious relationship, can relate to. Without making my life an open book here, I can assure you that there are more than a few instances in my past that cause me to cringe with regret. There are even things that I wish I could completely erase from my memory. But that is just not how God made us. It seems as though we tend to remember the very things that we wish most to forget. One thing that we can be sure of though, is that God's grace covers us fully! Not a single person on this earth is perfect. He knows that and wants us to come to Him, to receive His relentless love. Just like Brad is finding out, this is not an easy task. It is very daunting, to say the least. I think I will stop there, for fear of saying too much more about the story line. If I may, I might make just one simple prediction...I think this is going to be a book that I will be shedding more than just the usual happy ending tears. I feel like the situation that Brad is in is such a difficult one, that no matter the outcome, in the end, someone's heart will be badly bruised.

Ok...I am really getting the hang of this!! Anyway, I should probably stop so someone else can add some thoughts too. This club was a great idea and I can't wait to get together and talk about the novel in more detail. Happy reading to you all :).

Love you,

A Bit of a Guideline

We need to superimpose Lindsay. :)

So, now for a little bit of guideline as far as this club goes. Julie and I talked and thought it would be a good deadline to have the first 16 chapters read by around the 23rd. Check your schedules and see if one of those dates right in there would work for our first meeting. Julie is probably leaving around the 11th of March, so we will have our final meeting around that date. Hopefully we can have our book finished by then, but if not, that is just fine as well.

If there are certain areas that you liked or didn't like, and you don't want to forget, so we can discuss, please jot them down in a notebook. I hope we can have a bit of good conversation regarding the book rather than just saying we like it.

I am into the 6th chapter, and am ready for the meat of the book. A few of those chapters in there were a little blah for me. Did anyone else feel this way? Don't get me wrong, they were well written, but I'm just ready for the juicy details. Enough of this love at first sight, first date, etc... I am sure it's about to pick up speed.

You can leave in the comments what day will work for you for our first meeting. A lot of us have busy lives (not me in particular) and we should probably get it written down before all of our dates are full. Until next time... Au revoir!

Say a little or big prayer for Jared and Jalayne, right now. We love you guys!

This is a total afterthought. Click on the picture and just look at my little baby. Oh my goodness. Sorry, I know I am partial, but he is so little and cute! How easily you forget. Didn't want you guys to miss out on the full affect of his cuteness.

Ready, Set, READ!!

Well, I hope most of you have gotten your book. I just picked it up this afternoon at the Christian Book store. I ran in there to only buy the book and use one of my coupons. 33 dollars later, I did end up with the book and a few other miscellaneous purchases.

Anywho, I read the first chapter and really like it so far. But, dang, this looks like a long book! I was hoping there would be more discussion questions, but no biggie. Note to all of you who have not looked at the discussion questions, DON'T do it! Resist every urge inside of you to flip back there, and now I know you will because I have made you curious. The first question gave away some of the book for me.

I'm not really sure how to run a book club or what the format should look like. I guess just start reading the book. If we make it too homeworkish, it won't be fun. We will need to set some dates to get together and discuss before Julie leaves. We can do Haci, and I'm also fine with opening up my house for a night too. We can sit around the fireplace, eat bon bons, and rant and rave about sex, uh I mean, the book. (Lindsay, don't let that last sentence scare you!)

Alrighty, well please write a post whenever you want to about the book. I think this little blog will be fun to keep us all more informed on the book and each other. Heck, write something even if it has nothing to do with the book. I love our friendship and want it to grow even more, so please utilize this tool.

(To write a post, click on the tab "Posting" and it's pretty self explanatory. Make sure the tab to the right is clicked on "Compose." It's easy peasy.)

Welcome!!

Hello ladies! I decided maybe a blog would be easier to communicate through. If not, we can always shut the operation down. I chose the name, The Binding, because I'm hoping this will bind us all even closer together. It's sortof cheesy, but I totally couldn't think of anything else. I'm open to suggestions!! You should all be getting an e-mail inviting you to be an author in this blog. That way if you have something you would like to post, you have the option to write your own little diddy.

I tried to get my book today, but there weren't any in at the library. Totally bummed! Hope you all are in the process of getting yours. Those of you who do have yours, is it true that there are discussion questions in the back?

If you haven't heard anything about the book, here's a little something to wet your appetite:

Shades of Blue
Sometimes hope lies somewhere in the shades of blue.

Brad Cutler, twenty-eight, is a rising star at his New York ad agency, about to marry the girl of his dreams. Anyone would agree he has it all … a great career, a beautiful and loving fiancee, and a fairy tale life ahead of him—when memories of a high school girlfriend begin to torment him.

Lost innocence and one very difficult choice flood his conscience, and he is no longer sure what the future will bring except for this: He must find his old love and make amends. Haunted by the past and confused about the future, he turns to God seeking forgiveness and redemption.

Three people must work through the repercussions of a decision made long ago before any of them can look toward a new future.

Bookmark our blog or add it to your favorites, so that you can get to it easily. If you have anyone else you would like to invite, feel free to do so before we really get into the book.

Welcome to the club!!