By Nicole

Whew!  It has been a while since I've posted. But this read was worth coming out of the woodwork for.  I'd never heard of Bekah Hamrick Martin before requesting to review her book as part of a Litfuse blog tour.  Then I realized that it's because this is her first book!  Yay!  Now I think I might have to keep her on my reading list .  Her and many of the women she spotlighted in her book. Bekah's book outlines the ten lies the world tells us about sex and waiting for marriage.  Every chapter has a spotlight or two (stories from another perspective/person), a quiz, and journal prompts.  While some of the stories and references are tied together across chapters, the topics or sections could easily be used as stand-alone conversation starters for a small group or discussion with a teen.  She ends with references and information about each spotlighted individual. It's not a secret to most of you who have read this blog for some time that I ...

A few months ago I was approved to be a review blogger for Litfuse Publicity.   Forever Hilltop by Judy Baer is the first book I've had an opportunity to review.  The bonus about this book is that it is two books in one.  It's a cute story with likeable characters and funny, endearing descriptions of life in a rural farming community in North Dakota. It was a good, safe read... comfortable and amusing.  If you like Christian fiction, especially romance, then I highly recommend Judy's book.  Her characters are well developed and some of the scenarios were really amusing.  There were a couple parts in the story where I laughed out loud.  Here's what Litfuse says about the book and the author... About the book: The charming and often hilarious Forever Hilltop series follows the experiences of former city dweller Alex Armstrong as he settles into his new role as pastor of a Scandinavian community in rural N...

Over the last few months, I have had it in the back of my mind to choose various hymns and research their history.  When I hear a new "contemporary" song that I really like, I often find out that it is actually a re-make of an older hymn.  The Art History major in me is interested in the story behind these hymns.  What was the writer going through?  What did the song mean for that time period?  So, needless to say, I was really excited when I saw that there was actually a book that already did the work for me.  Then Sings My Soul: Book 3 by Robert J. Morgan is the third (obviously) in a series of books that takes a deeper look at Christian hymns and their origins.  After the introduction, Morgan divides the book into four parts: The History of Hymnody, Do You Know These Hymns?, Six Hymn Stories I Love to Tell, and Hymning in Private and Public.  Just the introduction had me.  Morgan gives an exciting explanation of St. Francis of As...

(photo from Amazon.com) The hook at the beginning of the summary of Kim Meeder's book , Fierce Beauty , was what drew me in when I selected it to review for Multnomah.  "True beauty is not about how you look but how you live."  There were many segments in this book that brought tears to my eyes, if I wasn't already full on crying.  Kim is so honest and open in her writing.  She also has an incredible talent of painting such a vivid picture in her descriptions.  So often I felt like I was right there with her.  Without any pretense or sugar coating, she gets right to the heart of every lesson.  Her illustrations and comparisons are truly inspired by God and cut straight to the quick.  The book is divided into three segments:  The Problem, The King and The Warrior.  Each segment has five or six chapters that provide real life stories and examples that delve deeper into God's purpose for our lives, as women of faith.  This world ...

This month, I received Going Deep by Gordon MacDonald.  The basic principle is that today's church leaders need to invest in creating disciples, or deep people, who will impact the church and become tomorrow's church leaders.  Following the rabbinical example that Christ set and applying some business principles, like an elevator story, a training plan and lots of meetings, Gordon tells a fictional account of how his church began to cultivate deep people in their church community over a two year period, from the birth of the idea to the actual completion of their first training program. The book takes some patience to get into. It felt like it started kind of slow.  Maybe it was because I felt like I was missing something because I hadn't read his other book.  It also felt strange because I knew that he was presenting a real idea in a fictional way.  I never could figure out if he had actually put the type of mentoring that he portrays ...

Ahhh, just the words "financial freedom" have this exciting ring to them!  I recently received The 60 Minute Money Workout by Ellie Kay from Waterbrook Multnomah Publishing Groups Blogging for Books Program.  The book advertises financial transformation in just one hour a week.  Hard to believe.  And I haven't tried it yet, so I don't know if it is true or not.  I was hoping that Kay would give me a solution that would help me only spend one hour a week on EVERYTHING finance related.  Bills, checkbook, planning, etc.  It doesn't quite work that way, and this book certainly doesn't offer a solution to laziness (which I have).  What she does offer is a very rigorous and structured approach to every facet of finances.  There are 14 chapters that cover topics ranging from creating a spending plan to travel and fun to college planning to retirement planning.  Each workout on the different topics is designed to be completed (by one ha...

Ever since I can remember, I have loved to read.  My mom started teaching me when I was about 3 or 4, and I just took off.  I remember as a kid spending a rainy Saturday curled up in a chair reading from a whole stack of Babysitter's Club books.  It was not unusual that I would read two or three in a sitting.  I was kind of a freak.  We had this huge, ridiculous bookshelf at home that my dad had built.  He basically took two logs, stood them up, cut board sized grooves, and slid unfinished lumber in for each shelf.  They were huge and heavy and filled with books.  A set of encyclopedias, all the how-to books, a set of the "classics" (you know, the ones with the dark colored binding and gold letters) and all you could read Nancy Drew and Grace Livingston Hill books.  There were more, but those I remember right now.  Next door, at my uncle's house, it was the same way.  Loads of books.  Louis L'Amore, Tom Clancy, Joh Grisham, Da...

Yesterday morning, I opened up The Grace Effect by Larry Alex Taunton.  And I had to finish.  Since there were lots of other things I had to take care of during the day, I read the book in spurts, but I finished nonetheless.  At just over 200 pages, it is a quick read.  Larry Taunton is a Christian apologist who, inspired by his family's experience adopting a daughter from the Ukraine, explores what society would look like if atheists had their way and what grace has to do with it all.  Long story short, a society without God, without Christ, is a society devoid of grace.  A world without grace has no hope for survival and no reason to care.  Larry begins the book by stating that he not attempting to prove the existence of God nor to defend religion.  He says he is writing the book "with the layperson in mind" to explain why the world needs Christianity, yet it seemed to me that he used quite a few complex words and phrases when there were s...

I was so excited to get this book in the mail!  Voices of the Faithful: Book 2 is the second series of daily devotions complied by Kim P Davis.  It also includes an introduction written by Beth Moore (love her! ).   The daily devotion consists of a memory verse, a short, real-life story from a missionary and a prayer.  Each section of the day's devotion is clearly divided and in a different font. Each month has a certain theme along which the devotions connect.  January's theme is prayer, February's is love, etc.  The cover and inside art is very elegant.  A friend of mine showed me this book before I even requested it from Booksneeze.  It had been a gift to her from her husband.  Once I saw it, I remembered that it was an available title, and I made up my mind that I had to have a copy. Since I received this in the middle of January, I decided to catch up by reading the first two weeks worth of devotions.  The stories a...

I have just finished reading Tithing: Test Me in This  by Douglas LeBlanc.  This book is one in the Ancient Practices series.  The book is structured as a series of short stories that highlight the lives of those who are faithful in tithing.  I was excited to read those stories and receive further proof of how God keeps His promises.  There are 11 chapters, each with very different real-life examples that basically guide the reader through the process each individual or couple has gone through to arrive at their philosophy of tithing.  Yet instead of focusing the glory toward God for His faithfulness and provision, the stories seemed to spend more time on explaining the denomination and doctrine of each individual, whether liberal or conservative and some of the policital background of how their current church or religious organization had been formed.  While a few of the stories were truly powerful ( Missional Living after K...