Reading, Writing & Pondering

  Get Your Hopes Up: 90 Devotions and True Stories for Young World Changers by Carlos Whittaker offers hope and encouragement to kids who need it today.  Get Your Hopes Up is aimed at tweens and teens. This book is good for both guys and gals. It is also a book that crosses cultures and skin colors. The book is also good for kids from various socioeconomic groups. I love that it is an all-inclusive book. I also love that these stories and devotions are full of hope and encouragement, because who doesn't need more of that? Each of the readings starts with a Bible verse, then a devotional story and ends with a prayer, like many devotionals do. However, this devotional is written in such a way that it is down-to-earth and easy for people to relate to. Carlos writes like I think he must speak--I feel like he is sitting next to me having coffee/tea, and sharing stories with me that relate to Scripture. I am not a teen but I found these devotionals to speak to me too. This book is ...

I am always so glad to be back in Hope Harbor when a new installment in the series comes out from Irene Hannon. Sandcastle Inn is the 10th Hope Harbor book. However, if you have not read any of the previous books, they each can stand alone with no problems. Sandcastle Inn focuses on relationships. First, we have Matt who is in Hope Harbor on hiatus from his veterinarian job to help his sister out who got in over her head when she purchased a bed and breakfast. Matt's sister, Kay, is leaving Matt with the Bed and Breakfast while she is off to help their adopted grandmother go through a heart operation back in Idaho. Then there is Vienna who lost her corporate job due to corporate consolidation and is home to visit her mother, Bev, who runs the town's bookstore and makes unique jewelry. Paige and Andrew are new in town as they try to figure out how to go forward in their life as a young married couple after Andrew's business partner stole money from the business. Their luck c...

  Do you like dogs? I LOVE dogs! I also love that dogs can do jobs that help people, like police dogs do. K9 Mattis On the Job by Mark Tappan tells "A Day in the life of a police dog." The illustrations by Donald Wu in this book are so life-like too! K9 Mattis on the Job is a large, dust-jacketed picture book that measures a little over 10 inches square and is 32 pages long.  This book tells the story of an average day in the life of police dog Mattis and his human partner, Sergeant Mark.  I love how this book shares little aspects of their lives. I also like how there are small boxes of fun facts in the pages that share some of the basic information about K9 Mattis life that go along with the story. I do think it would be helpful if somewhere they put some information on how people should approach police dogs--or not approach them, so children know better how to behave around them. Other than that, I think it is a great book with beautiful, colorful illustrations that gi...

  These Tangled Threads by Sarah Loudin Thomas is a historical fiction novel set around the famous Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. These Tangled Threads features three main characters: Lorna, Arthur and Gentry. These Tangled Threads is a good title for this book as the story weaves back and forth and through different times with the different characters. There is also an element of deception that needs to be righted and that thought is woven in the story.Then the book actually talks about the weaving that historically took place at that time. So the title is quite fitting for the story. For me, this story was a little confusing and a little slower. However, it was rich in history and description, which was well done. There is also a spiritual theme that is well done through the story. These Tangled Threads would be most enjoyed by readers who like history and rich descriptions. The characters and the setting are big in this story. The plot is slower paced. I received a copy of t...

  Losing a loved one is never easy for anyone. In the past month, five people I know have passed away. The last one was the unexpected loss of a classmate. I have to say, I am sad in my heart and soul right now with all of these losses. J. S. Park has a new book out that talks about grieving from a chaplain who has counseled people in all walks of life about all types of deaths. He writes a book with solid practical advice and encouragement as you walk the grieving road ahead of you. In  As Long As You Need by J.S. Park, he offers an honest and unrushed engagement with grief, decoding four types of grieving–spiritual, mental, physical, and relational–and offering compassionate self-care and soul-care along the way. In his nearly decade of service as a chaplain at a major hospital with a designated level one trauma center J.S. understands firsthand how rushing or suppressing grief only adds a suffocating layer of pain on top of the original wound. (From the Back of the b...