Reading, Writing & Pondering

  The Beauty of an Uncluttered Soul by Carla Gasser is a truly beautiful devotional journal.  The Beauty of an Uncluttered Soul starts out with an introduction by the author and a description of the artistic process by the illustrator, Vivian Kammel. Then there is a short chapter explaining how to use this devotional with the SOUL study method--Search, Observe, Use, and Lean. Then the book is divided in to three sections with three chapters each: Checking your attitudes: How do you respond to God?, Connecting your actions: How do you relate to others?, and Choosing your habits: How do you renew your soul? There is also a conclusion chapter and one of helpful terms at the end of the book. I found The Beauty of an Uncluttered Soul to be a simply gorgeous book with full-color watercolor illustrations. Then each chapter invites the reader to learn and grow through both the reading and the journaling sections.  As an artistic person, this book just left me feeling spoiled w...

  Unknown Threat by Lynn H. Blackburn is the first book in the Defend and Protect series about the U. S. Secret Service. I did not want to put this book down until I was done. Four Secret Service Agents from one department died within a ten-week span. FBI Agent Faith Malone is in charge of the investigation to figure out just what is going on. USSS Agent Luke Powell is assigned to work with her to find the killer and bring him to justice--without getting killed himself.  I enjoyed everything about Unknown Threat. I liked the chemistry between Luke and Faith. I laughed at some of their banter. I liked that spiritual struggles were real among these agents and talked about as if they were a part of their lives in one way or another. Faith's struggles with her faith were easy for me to understand and relate to. Right off the first few pages, the action in the book gets started and it is a page turner to figure out who the killer is. It definitely kept me guessing and turning pag...

  Since I enjoyed Collision of Lies by Tom Threadgill, I was anxious for the next book to feature detective Amara Alvarez, Network of Deceit .  Amara gets her first case as a detective for San Antonio's Homicide Division. Her first case is a suspicious death of a teenage boy at a crowded water park. Soon she is involved with online cybercriminals who catch wind that she is on their trail and then stalk her online. As she works on the case, she bounces ideas off of fellow detective Starsky whom she also goes out to dinner with. What kind of relationship do they have? Her life also becomes more complicated as her mother faces a big health challenge. Network of Deceit kept me turning pages quickly to find out who the killer was. The plot was well done and kept me guessing. I liked the romance building between Amara and Starsky. I also thought the book remained true to life in that Amara had to deal with her work and some challenges in her personal life with her mother's health ...

  Do you want to scatter more acts of kindness but struggle with a busy schedule? Or maybe you just aren't sure where to start? Make Their Day by Karen Ehman has 101 ideas for spreading kindness to people you know and those you don't know. Make Their Day is divided in to eight chapters and an introduction. In the introduction, Ehman suggests instead of complaining about all the bad news that you hear every day, instead you "light a candle in the darkness" with acts of kindness (Matthew 5:16). The other chapters offer ideas for acts of kindness to different groups of people: In Your Circle of Friends, Within Your Own Family, Throughout Your Day and around the Town, Across the Miles or through the Screen, For Those Who Hurt or Need Help, Among the Household of Faith, On Holidays, Holy Days, or Just Because, and By Opening Your Home. In the back of the book, Ehman has included a few recipes and printables.  As a whole, I enjoyed Make Their Day . It was quick to read al...

        The Beautiful Word Coloring Bible for Girls Gift Set would be a wonderful gift for any young woman in the eight to twelve-year-old age range. This Bible is not only pretty but it comes with 4 colored pencils and six sticker sheets in the gift set, which is also beautifully boxed.     This Bible has thick white paper that is designed to be used for writing or drawing with wide, lined margins for notes and reflections. The print is dark and an easy-to-read Comfort Print typeface that is 8-point type. This Bible also lays flat when opened fully. Some of the pages have lines in the margin and others have Scripture picture verses to color. There are also some pretty full page pictures to color. I think any colored pencils would be fine for this Bible. I have not tried pens or markers but they may be okay to use without bleed through if you test a small corner since the pages are fairly thick. The Beautiful Word Coloring Bible for Girls measures 8.25...

  This Beautiful Word Bible Journal (Mark) from Zondervan is a nice quality, pretty Bible book journal.  The Beautiful Word Bible Journal: Mark is a nice size to carry anywhere. It also has larger 9.5 point type. It has wide margins with plenty of space to type. Colorful, illustrated art verses line some of the margin edges and still have space to write next to them. In this book, these are already a vibrant color and not and outlined type to be colored in. To be clear, the decorated verses are already illustrating this journal. However, you could still use the wide margin space to create your own Bible art journaling pictures if you so choose or you could use them to take notes and write reflections on what you have been reading. I think it could be used in a variety of ways. Right now, several books of the Bible are available as NIV Beautiful Word Bible Journals: Mark, Matthew, Luke, John, James, John, Romans, Acts, Ephesians, and Psalms. They are fairly inexpensive so it wo...

  40 Days of Intentional Living is a gorgeous new devotional journal released from Ink and Willow. As the name suggests, this journal  is designed to be used for 40 days. The pages are thick to write on and the cover is a heavy paperback style. It is flexible and would fit in your book bag just great with your Bible if you like to work at the coffee shop or on the go. There is an inscription page inside the front cover. The book is divided in to 8 sections, following the introduction: Hope, Faith, Suffering, Joy, Surrender, Rest, Generosity, and Love. Each section includes 5 reading/journaling devotionals. Each day there is a Bible reading, a devotional reading and room to journal an answer to the question or thoughts for each day. In the back of 40 Days of Intentional Living , there is also a small section called intentional living and habit tracking which includes tools for you to use to track your devotional habits for each day. I like this beautiful devotional journal. 4...

  Natchez Trace Ranger and historian Emma Winters broke her engagement to Sam Ryker many years ago. Afterwards, he left town and life went on for Emma. Now after 10 years, Sam is back and Emma will have to work with him, as he is now a Natchez Trace Law Enforcement District Ranger. To add more complications to her life, Emma now has a  stalker. She also has a mystery to solve nearby her office. When you put it all together, Obsession by Patricia Bradley is one page-turner of a book. I couldn't put Obsession down. There were a lot of twists and turns in the plot. I did suspect the killer but Bradley didn't let me be sure of my hunch until the very end. In between there was a lot of action and some romance. I also found it interesting that both Emma and Sam struggled with some family issues on their own and together. Woven throughout this mix was a threat of spirituality that rang true with the characters for me. All in all, I thought this book had a great plot and I liked the...

  Are you a fan of Little Women by Louisa May Alcott? If you are, then you will want to read The Orchard House by Heidi Chiavaroli. The Orchard House is a split time novel. For part of the book, the reader learns about Taylor and Victoria Bennett. Taylor is adopted by the Bennett family and struggles to fit in. Both girls want to be a writer and attend summer classes at The Orchard House. The girls grow up writing and struggling with teenage issues together. Then when Taylor feels like she is just starting to find her place in the world, she is betrayed by Victoria and everything changes. The reader also goes back in time to read the story of Johanna Suhre who cares for Louisa May Alcott's aging parents at The Orchard House. While she is with the Alcott family, she meets their neighbor, Nathan Bancroft, and they form a relationship. But is everything what it appears to be with Nathan? The Orchard House is a well-written novel with seemingly effortlessly going back and forth in t...

  I didn't realize when I ordered The Garden The Curtain and The Cross that this book is part of a series of books. This is the young child's version written by Carl Laferton and it presents the Gospel of Christ for little ones to understand. It is a board book that is aimed at toddlers. For that reason, the wording is quite simple and aimed at helping little ones understand the salvation plan in simple terms. My family liked the simple words and the simplistic Gospel presentation for little ones. However, we didn't care for the illustrations at first in The Garden, The Curtain and The Cross. Then, after reading through it a few times, they grew on us. I think if we had seen the original book that it came from, we may have liked it more from the start. If you are looking to share the gospel with little ones, I do recommend it. I also would like to get more books in the series and that may help other parents too. There is a hardcover book for older children and an activity b...

  The Boy Who Shared His Sandwich by Steph Williams takes the Bible story from John 6:5-35 and tells it in a way that little ones can understand it. This book is aimed at pre-school children from ages two to four years old. The illustrations are cute and the story is told in a simple, modern way. The message of the Bible is clear and easy to understand for this young age group without losing the importance of the message.  The Boy Who Shared His Sandwich also has a page in back with notes for grown ups so that they are even more clear on the Biblical aspect of the story. The NIV version of the verse is printed on a page next to it. I think the helps are great to have handy for answering questions from the little ones. This book is also part of the Little Me, Big God series of storybooks for pre-schoolers. It is not a board book but a paper book with fairly thick pages. I received a copy of this book from The Good Book Company. All opinions within this review are my own.

    Evelyn Brand is a journalist working in Nazi Germany in 1938. She is struggling to assert herself in a male-dominated profession. Peter Lang is in Germany as an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Initially, they both see the country differently. Then, as they become friends, their views change and they see what is going on in Germany with new eyes as we read through the book. They also start to see each other differently throughout When the Twilight Breaks by Sarah Sundin. When Twilight Breaks is a story of two people who come together in the midst of a time of changing history. I enjoyed watching the characters change and develop both on their own and as a couple. As a reader, I was continually pulling for them. I also found this book to be a fascinating look at history during a very dangerous time of change in both Germany and the rest of the world. Sundin writes in such a way that I felt like I was with the characters experiencing the changes in t...

  A Dance In Donegal by Jennifer Deibel is a step back in time to Ireland in the 1920s.  It is hard to believe that this novel is the author's first. I enjoyed it from cover to cover. Moira Doherty grew up in Boston listening to her mother regale her with stories from her native Ireland. When her mother dies unexpectedly in the summer of 1920, Moira fulfills her mother's dying wish and becomes the teacher in Ballymann, her mother's beloved home village. Moira works hard to fit in even though there are rumors that her dear mother wasn't who she thought she was. Can she overcome the rumors and fit in to this small community? A Dance In Donegal is full of memorable characters, mystery and romance. I felt like the characters were fun to get to know and spend time with. Even some of the characters that I didn't like to start with, I liked by the end. Although there were a couple of characters that I didn't care for but still served the plot well. I especially liked...