Skip to main content

SOCIAL MEDIA

 


Hello, My Lovelies!  How was your weekend?  I am currently spending time with my Little Starling, so I am in heaven!  

Today I'm featuring Emotional Endurance: Faith-Fueled Skills for Bouncing Back by Leslie M. Bosserman.  

About Emotional Endurance: Faith-Fueled Skills for Bouncing Back

Publisher: Zondervan

Publication date: July 28, 2026

Learn how to come back stronger and keep going when you experience setbacks and disappointment.

Why do some people bounce back from adversity while others stay stuck? We all face stress and setbacks, but not everyone recovers the same way. What makes the difference? Executive leadership coach, educator, and TEDx speaker Leslie M. Bosserman has spent decades helping people answer that question. Through research, experience, and her own personal journey, she’s identified the key: emotional endurance.

In Emotional Endurance, you’ll develop the mindset and skills to face life’s hardest moments and come out stronger, wiser, and more grounded. Based in psychological research and biblical truth, this practical and hope-filled guide offers a framework for building resilience that lasts. Soon you won’t just survive adversity; you’ll bounce back stronger with the skills to keep going.

Emotional Endurance offers practical tools and transformational results, including how to

  • develop inner strength and grit through six core principles and eighteen actionable skills;
  • recover from failure, turn it into a source of strength, and use it to fuel your growth;
  • build resilience that lasts beyond a single crisis;
  • access hope to heal from emotional wounds;
  • replace fear and paralysis with courage and clarity;
  • learn to manage your energy by anticipating what drains you and making space for what restores you; and
  • find strength to endure challenges by standing firm in your clearly defined purpose.

This book is a perfect gift for anyone going through a difficult season, friends facing burnout or transition, graduates stepping into uncertain futures, small groups or book clubs focused on personal growth, or leadership retreats and team-building sessions.

Real strength isn’t about avoiding hard things. It’s about moving forward with emotional steadiness when life gets tough. Emotional Endurance equips you with the mindset and resilience to keep going, keep growing, and come out stronger on the other side. Your bounce-back starts here.

Meet the Author

Leslie M. Bosserman, M.Ed., CPCC, is the founder of Lead With Intention® where she coaches and trains teams on the science of emotional endurance. 

She is a TEDx speaker, executive leadership coach, and creative entrepreneur who believes success should be based on fulfillment, not retirement.

Leslie is living her best life in Northern California, where she runs The Makers Place™, an innovative coworking space with onsite childcare. 

When she isn’t coaching, writing, or folding endless piles of laundry, you can find her enjoying the perfect cup of local coffee while parenting three young children.





My Thoughts

I think the book blurb above is very well-written and succinct.  I don't want to repeat any of it here, so I will share a couple of thoughts.  My first impression is that emotional endurance can be achieved because the six principles which lead to it each have three skills that enables the reader to achieve them.  Skills are learned behavior.  Anyone can learn a skill and be successful with perseverance and practice.  This is why I think this book is useful and should be helpful to readers.  The principle that intrigues me most is Principle Four:  Courage to Change.  We are creatures of habit, and sometimes those habits can hold us back and prevent growth from happening.  One of the skills in this section is Expand Your Comfort Zone.  I think as Christians we are often called to do just that.  At the end of each principle's section is a Reflect + Connect guided journaling activity with helpful prompts for reflection and action.  This book is a lovely resource for anyone at any stage of life who could use encouragement to let go and move forward.  I think it helps put hope into practice. 

Disclosure:  I received a hardback copy of Emotional Endurance from the publisher via TLC Book Tours in exchange for a fair and honest review.  


TLC tour schedule:

Monday, August 24th: The Bookish Dilettante – review

Wednesday, August 26th: @dana.loves.books – review

Monday, August 31st: @deannaturnsthepage – review

Wednesday, September 2nd: @reading.withrach on TikTok – review

Wednesday, September 9th: @suzylew_bookreview – feature

Saturday, September 12th: @cmtloveswineandbooks – feature

Monday, September 14th: @pickagoodbook  – review

Wednesday, September 16th: @natashasbookshelf on TikTok – review

Thursday, September 17th: @books_old_and_new – feature

Monday, September 21st: @beckys_bookshelves – feature

Thursday, September 24th: @nissa_the.bookworm – feature

Friday, September 25th: @musingsofasassybookishmama and Musings of a Sassy Bookish Mama – review

Monday, September 28th: @the.joy.within.every.page – review

Wednesday, September 30th: Laura’s Reviews and @laurasreviews_1  – review




Until next time....

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill





Bookish Feature: Emotional Endurance

Monday, August 24, 2026





Happy Wednesday, My Lovelies!

Today's What I'm Reading Wednesday Post is all about A Thousand Painted Hours by Barbara O'Neal.  I have read several of O'Neal's novels, and she never disappoints.  However, this one might be my very favorite.  If you are interested in reading more of my reviews of her books, just type her name in the search engine (the magnifying glass) at the top of my page.

First of all, I love receiving book mail that is so pretty.  The mailer matches the book cover!



The book came with a letter from Barbara and the pretty postcard which is so appropriate given that the novel is partly epistolary.  

About A Thousand Painted Hours

Publisher: Lake Union Publishing

Publication date: August 11, 2026

534 pages

According to Goodreads

An epic, emotionally charged novel about love, art, and survival spanning 1900s colonial India to Blitz-era London by the USA Today bestselling author of When We Believed in Mermaids.

In the shadow of the London Blitz, artist Elsie Turner clings fiercely to her canvases, refusing to let war dim the colors that define her. The bombs test her nerve, but the struggle also stirs memories of her golden youth in India and of the long-lost love of her life.

The daughter of a British civil servant in the Himalayan station of Nainital, Elsie crosses cultural divides to forge an unlikely bond with Tanveer Singh, a Sikh prince with hopes, dreams, and far-reaching ideas. What begins as shared sketchbooks and stargazing becomes first love and a secret correspondence. When Elsie’s father is summoned to England, Elsie is severed from the world she knows—and is determined to preserve it through both her art and a connection with Tanveer that endures through the most tumultuous years of their lives.

Across four decades and two continents, Elsie navigates a journey from lush colonial India to war-torn London, amid landscapes of beauty, protest, and peril. As past and present collide, the most impossible choices and sacrifices are yet to be made in the name of love, war, and survival.

About Barbara O’Neal

Barbara O’Neal is the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon Charts bestselling author of twenty novels of women’s fiction, including the #1 Amazon Charts bestseller When We Believed in Mermaids, as well as The Last Letter of Rachel Ellsworth, Memories of the Lost, This Place of Wonder, and The Starfish Sisters. Her award-winning books have been published in more than two dozen countries. She lives on the wild Oregon Coast with her husband, a British endurance athlete who vows he’ll never lose his accent. For more information, visit www.barbaraoneal.com.




My Review

A Thousand Painted Hours is the historical novel you’ve been looking for to complete your summer reading adventure.  It’s an epic love story that survives two world wars and defies class expectations.  Partly epistolary and entirely magical, Elsie and Tanveer’s story will stay with you for a very long time.  My heart is full from having read it!

Barbara O'Neal paints her story with vivid imagery, exotic scents, and heart-stopping sounds.  The novel is a work of art that would make Elsie and her Bohemian artist friends proud!  I enjoy novels with a true sense of place, and O'Neal's descriptions of the Indian countryside in the foothills of the Himalayas;  London during the height of the Blitzkrieg;  and English country estates before and after the Great War are intricately and perfectly depicted.  The characters, especially the two main ones, Elsie and Tanveer, are so well-drawn and complex.  Their worlds and their roles in them are also complicated and seemingly at odds.  And yet....

Sometimes in character-driven novels the plot can suffer.  That isn't the case in A Thousand Painted Hours.  There are so many unexpected plot twists, and a few characters do not behave as expected.  There is plenty of family drama and secrets impacting Elsie, and the back and forth in time paired with her correspondence with (primarily) Tanveer slowly reveal a surprising and very satisfying ending.  

There is so much beauty in this story, and it isn't just from the art.  If you enjoy an epic historical with a love story for the ages, then this is your book.  I highly recommend it!





Disclosure:  I'd like to thank TLC Book Tours for sending me a copy of the novel via the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.  I'm honored to be a part of this tour!


TLC tour schedule:

Monday, August 10th: IG: @fullybookedinkentucky

Monday, August 10th: IG: @a_book_read_in_jersey

Monday, August 10th: TT: @copperforestbookshop 

Monday, August 10th: TT: @jess4reads

Monday, August 10th: Novels Alive – review

Monday, August 10th: IG: @diveintoagoodbook – review

Tuesday, August 11th: TT: @respecka 

Tuesday, August 11th: IG: @bookapotamus

Tuesday, August 11th: TT: @juliannas_booktok

Tuesday, August 11th: IG: @jacklynsbooknook

Wednesday, August 12th: IG: @dianas_books_cars_coffee

Wednesday, August 12th: IG: @reecaspiecesbooks and TT: @reecaspiecesbooks – review

Thursday, August 13th: IG: @dana.loves.books and TT: @dana.loves.books5 

Thursday, August 13th:  @enjoyingbooksagain – review

Thursday, August 13th: IG: @purrfectpages

Thursday, August 13th: TT: @dharashahauthor

Thursday, August 13th: IG: @thenightowlnook 

Thursday, August 13th:  Laura’s Reviews and IG: @laurasreviews_1 – review

Friday, August 14th: IG: @poisedpen

Friday, August 14th: IG: @andrea.c.lowry.reads

Friday, August 14th: IG: @deannaturnsthepage and TT: @deannaturnsthepage

Friday, August 14th: View from the Birdhouse – review

Monday, August 17th: IG: @welovebigbooksandwecannotlie and TT: @welovebigbooks – review

Tuesday, August 18th: IG: @readingpastdark.marcia

Tuesday, August 18th: Reading Reality – review

Wednesday, August 19th: The Bookish Dilettante – review

Wednesday, August 19th: IG: @reading.late.into.the.night

Wednesday, August 19th: IG: @bookbenderwitch

Wednesday, August 19th: IG: @webreakforbooks

Wednesday, August 19th: TT: @zaineylaney

Thursday, August 20th: IG: @angiearoundwonderland

Thursday, August 20th: TT: @readerinthestorm

Friday, August 21st: Helen’s Book Blog – review 

Friday, August 21st: IG: @smashley.reads and TT: @smashley.reads

Saturday, August 22nd:  IG: @booksandcoffeemx

Monday, August 24th: IG: @iambibliomane

Monday, August 24th: IG: @the.caffeinated.reader

Monday, August 24th: IG: @ifcatscouldread – review 

Tuesday, August 25th: IG: @girlsinbooks 

Tuesday, August 25th: IG: @lexijava 

Wednesday, August 26th: IG: @meghan_readsbooks

Wednesday, August 26th: @books_old_and_new – review

Wednesday, August 26th: Cerebral Girl in a Redneck World – review

Thursday, August 27th: IG: @lifeofabookqueen

Thursday, August 27th: IG: @cmtloveswineandbooks

Thursday, August 27th: IG: @bookedbychristina – review

Friday, August 28th: IG: @booksloveandunderstanding

Friday, August 28th: IG: @oilycaffeinatedmama

Saturday, August 29th: IG: @subakka.bookstuff

Monday, August 31st: Eliot’s Eats – review

Monday, August 31st: IG: @reader_ceygo 

Monday, August 31st: IG: @that.bookmom 

Tuesday, September 1st: IG: @aurorabookreading

Wednesday, September 2nd: IG: @edensbookden

Wednesday, September 2nd: IG: @reading.with.mama.kenna

Wednesday, September 2nd: IG: @cam_leary – review

Thursday, September 3rd: Bibliotica

Thursday, September 3rd: IG: @just_another_mother_with_books

Thursday, September 3rd: IG: @spaceonthebookcase and TT: @spaceonthebookcase

Saturday, September 5th: Girl Who Reads – review

Sunday, September 6th: IG: @nissa_the.bookworm





Until next time...

Happy reading!
Ricki Jill


What I'm Reading Wednesday: A Thousand Painted Hours

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

 

This is one of the Friday Freebies from The Graphics Fairy.
It's my happy greeting to you!

Happy Tuesday, My Lovelies!  

How has your summer been so far?

Our house renovation is almost complete.  We are expecting to have a window installed in our bathroom, and then we will have our shade installed.  Hopefully everything will be finished soon!

We have not been anywhere much this summer because of the house, and the one weekend we were planning a trip to the lake I ended up in the hospital with vestibular neuritis.  It was scary.  I had lots of testing, including a spinal tap.  Spinal taps are not for sissies!  I'm much better now, and we are planning a beach trip next month.  I should be able to ride bikes by then, I'm hoping!

Because I was out of commission for most of July, August has been a catch-up month, mostly cleaning-up after workers.  But I have made the time to find a little joy.  I felt well enough to substitute teach for my art teacher this month.  I am not painting right now, but I am drawing.  I drew a study of roses for our bathroom.  It is framed, and once I post about our new bathroom I will post a photo of it on the wall.

I've also been arranging flowers for our dining room, art studio, and library.  I have been purchasing flowers mostly from Trader Joe's this summer.  I also completely cleaned out and organized the studio.  I am having fun with creating art journals, drawing, and coloring.  I haven't had my paints out much.  I've also been reading a little bit, and I have read a few books this year that have been huge surprises in a good way.  Maybe I can post about them soon.  I've also been reading quite a bit of Christian nonfiction for TLC Book Tours.  More about those books later this summer and fall.

I will be participating in Rita's Welcome Fall Tablescape Blog Hop Party.  I am already taking out the pumpkins, y'all.  It has been very hot here, and I'm ready for PSL Season!  :D

One of my friends and I have discovered a cute plant shop downtown, and I have been replacing and replanting houseplants.  Houseplants always cheer me up!


I love the color of these little mums in this arrangement.
So ready for mum season!  



A little vignette in the studio



One of my newest houseplants.  She's a Philippine Evergreen.



My rose study in process



Finished study
I drew it on toned paper.



A Messy Monday scene from the art studio.
Just keeping it real!





Thank-you for reading my blog!

Come back tomorrow for my review of A Thousand Painted Hours.


Until next time...

Blessings!
Ricki Jill


End of Summer Wrap-Up Post

Tuesday, August 18, 2026


Hello, Lovelies!

I'm Ricki Jill. Welcome! I'm honored that you're reading my blog. I enjoy sharing my creative lifestyle @ The Bookish Dilettante. For more information about my blog, please read the Start Here page. Thank-you for stopping by, and I hope you'll consider following me via email.

Labels