3 hours ago
I requested Splitting Harriet by Tamara Leigh, just because it looked like it might be a fun book to read.
Harriet is a former rebel, and she has no intention of going back to those days. As such she shelters herself by mostly hanging out with older people and staying far away from anything remotely rebellious. That is until her church hires a consultant who has a tattoo and drives a motorcycle and she has to learn to let down some of her walls and trust God to guide her.
I was a little skeptical reading the back of this book, because I wasn't sure how the author was going to handle the "church politics" part of the plot, but I thought it was tastefully done. The older people in the story were lovable and loving to Harriet and encouraged her to step out of her comfort zone in healthy ways. I felt like the author kept a good balance in showing the benefits of older/younger church members, hymns/contemporary music, etc. without leaning too much one way or another or making one "side" look bad.
The plot of this book was fun and light-hearted, and kept me wanting to read more! It was very cleverly written, and interesting to read, and I enjoyed the banter between Harriet and Maddox. This is good Christian chic-lit, and if you like chic-lit I'd recommend checking out this book. (Note: It's only $1.99 on Christianbook right now, so if you are looking for something to read this summer, it's a good deal!)
I am looking forward to reading another one of Tamara Leigh's Christian novels soon!
Note: I received this book for free from Blogging For Books in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
When I saw Dead Lawyers Tell No Tails by Randy Singer was up for review I was excited to read it. I had heard of Randy singer before and I've been wanting to read one of his books. I like the law mystery/suspense novels that I've read in the past, and I liked the idea of reading one from a Christian author.
The book start out with Landon Reed getting out of jail after serving time for a point-shaving scheme he was a part of while playing college football. He is changed in prison, and decides to go to law school. No now will hire him until a criminal defense lawyer, Harry Mcnaughten, decides to give him a chance. But then lawyers at the firm start dying, and Landon has to dig deep to fin out what exactly is going on inside his new firm.
You can watch the book trailer here, and if you'd like to check out the book before you buy, you can read Chapter One here!
I really enjoyed this book! One of the reviews on the cover says Singer's books are "every bit as good as John Grisham", and I have to concur. The book was easy to read and kept me wanting to find out what would happen, and the ending was exciting and satisfying.
It was also clean, which is what I would expect from a Christian author, but I appreciated that because some of the law fiction that I've read in the past hasn't been. Christianity wasn't the main focus of the book, but it was weaved into the story naturally, and I liked that. I'm thinking I want to look into getting more of Randy Singer's books now, and I'm excited that I found a good new author!
If you are interested in learning more about Singer and his books, you can read an interview with Singer here, and you can also check out his website, as well as this author video. I was interested to learn from the interview that Singer is also a lawyer himself, and a pastor, which is an interesting combination!
I'd definitely recommend checking out this book (or his other books too, I know I'm going to be checking into his other books). I think this would be a great vacation read!
Note: I received this book for free from Tyndale in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Persecuted by PaulMarshall, Lela GIlbert, and Nina Shea is a thorough look at Christian persecution in various countries throughout the world. The book is written like a news report, and goes through 41 different countries that are of concern as far as persecution and religious freedom infringements go.
All I can say after reading this book is: wow. I knew that Christians were persecuted throughout the world, but this book really explained the who/what/where of persecution for me, including some places that surprised me. The countries that surprised me most were India and North Korea, along with Iran and Saudi Arabia. I wasn't even aware of how much persecution goes on in India at all. And I knew that North Korea, Iran, and Saudi Arabia had a lot of Christian persecution, but I didn't realize how restrictive and severe the persecution was.
This book was very thorough and very factual, giving a lot of statistics mixed in with specific examples of persecution in each country. But even though the text itself was very straight-forward, I found myself really thinking more about Christians in other countries and the great need they have for our prayers! I'm thinking of re-reading this book and praying specifically for Christians in each country.
One other thing I got from this book is how I really don't have an excuse for not telling others about my faith in Jesus. Here are these Christians in other countries who lose their jobs, their families, their freedom, and their lives for choosing to follow Jesus - and I'm afraid to tell someone what I believe because they might give me a funny look? It really puts things into perspective.
I definitely think this is a book that every Christian should read, and praying for Christians who are being persecuted is something we all should do more of - and this book will inspire you to do that.
Note: I received this book for free from Booksneeze in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I found myself stalking browsing some friends' Facebook pages the other day, and I decided to check the page of a girl I knew several years ago. We reconnected on Facebook several months ago, and I had been thinking about asking her if she wanted to meet up for coffee or lunch, hoping to make a new friend.
But as I was scrolling on her Facebook page I found a comment from somebody she knew, and I realized that since the last time I saw her she had spent some time serving in Africa.
When I read that I suddenly felt a pang of inferiority - here was this girl, and obviously she had taken time to do some really great things for the Lord in Africa . . . and what had I really done for the Lord over the last 7 years since we had last seen each other? All I'd done was gotten married and had babies.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that even though I never thought I would think such a thing, I had at least partially bought into one of Satan's lies - that motherhood doesn't matter.
Over the last seven years, I've never felt like I wasn't where the Lord wanted me to be. So why do I assume the Lord would rather I had been in some other country serving Him when I believe He put me here with my husband and kids for a reason?
I think this is something that a lot of moms can lose sight of - your kids are your ministry. And if you have kids, they are the greatest ministry you have. We are called to be faithful with the little things, and even when it's hard to see the eternal impact in making macaroni and cheese and picking up little socks, what we do with this task of motherhood does matter.
I realized that I think the Lord had just called this girl and me to different things for that seven year portion of our lives. The Lord called her to be single for those years, which allowed her the opportunity to travel and serve the Lord through foreign mission work. He called me to stay here, get married, and have two beautiful children - the first steps in my lifelong mission to do my best to reach my kids for the Lord.
This isn't something to be brushed away as "not as important". It is the ministry that God has given me for this season in my life, and I think He wants me to approach it just as seriously and passionately as any other ministry. Because it is important.
I don't want to minimize it. I want to work and strive, give my kids my best, show Jesus to them, follow the call to be a missionary to my own kids, and trust the Lord to use that. I want to be faithful with these kids that the Lord has given me, and I know He can use it in ways that I can't see.
Motherhood does matter to God. He can use it even when it feels like I'm failing, or even when the work seems insignificant.
I know this is right where He's called me to be.
I recently requested to review "The Guardian" by Beverly Lewis. I've read several of her books, and I like Amish fiction, so I was happy to see this book come up!
This book starts with a little Amish girl, Sarah, falling out of her family's buggy one evening. She is found the next day by an "Englisher" named Jodi. As Jodi returns Sarah to her family she forms a connection with Sarah's family, and as she gets to know them some of her hurts over her sister's death start to heal.
I enjoyed this book. Beverly Lewis's books are always laid-back and relaxing to read, and her characters are likable. Her descriptions in this book, especially, make me want to visit Amish country! I would recommend this book (or any of Beverly Lewis's books) to anyone looking for some good Amish fiction!
Note: I received this book for free from Bethany House in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
I requested A Matter Of Trust by Lis Weihl on the recommendation of a friend, hoping for something fast-paced and exciting. And I have to say, it did not disappoint!
After the recent death of her husband, Mia returns to work as a prosecutor. While talking on the phone with a friend and coworker, Mia hears a gunshot and realizes she has just been witness to a murder. She is assigned to the case and teams up with a detective, Charlie, to find out who killed her friend.
I've been watching so many mystery/crime shows on TV lately, and this book reminded me of one of those shows, only written down. It was easy to read and made me want to keep reading. I may or may not have skipped working out during the kids' naps because the book sucked me in and I didn't want to put it down.
While not overtly Christian, except for little tidbits here and there, this was a clean, exciting suspense novel, and I definitely want to check out more of Lis Weihl's books!
Note: I received this e-book for free from Booksneeze in exchange for this review. This is my honest opinion.
Last December, before I had Gwen, I spent one afternoon looking up verses that I thought would be encouraging to me for when I was in labor. I had seen a post on Faith's blog on her verses for labor, and I thought it was a great idea to focus on God's word during labor and delivery, so I got out my Bible and concordance and went to work.
I wrote my verses on little 4x6 inch notecards, and I even used colored pens to make them all fancy. Little did I know that things would move so fast that I wouldn't even have time to use them!
I do plan on keeping them and using them for my labor with my next baby (assuming we don't have another ambulance incident), but in the meantime I thought I'd share them here! The first two are from Faith's list, and the rest I picked out for myself.
Feel free to steal these and use them for your own labor (or just anytime you need some encouragement). I found that some of my favorite verses for life in general were also ones that I would want to focus on in labor, so I also suggest just grabbing your own Bible and going through all the verses you've highlighted in the past - you'll be surprised how many can be appropriate for labor!
If you want to use the images I made here, I sized them so they will fit on 4x6 cards. Just click on the images you want and save to your computer!
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