A Caregiver You Know Might Need This Book

Not Knowing That I Stood in Need When my husband miraculously recovered from non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma with Central Nervous System involvement I knew I should feel grateful and blessed. I did, mostly. But a heavy blanket of depression crept over me and sucked the color out of my days. I felt… Read more“A Caregiver You Know Might Need This Book”

The Beautiful Pretender: A Book Review

If you’re looking for a graduation gift for young reader, look no further! (Ok, I loved the book and I’m not exactly young). If you love fairy tales and medieval intrigue, you’ll love The Beautiful Pretender by Melanie Dickerson. If you’ve read The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest you’ll remember the… Read more“The Beautiful Pretender: A Book Review”

Living Forward is Triage for Life

Living Forward: a Book Review God has a sense of humor. First, he gives me a word for the year with a double meaning—constrain—which means to both compel and to hold back. Next, he puts three books in my life (books I received for free with the understanding that I… Read more“Living Forward is Triage for Life”

Peace for Lifetime: The Self-Help Book I Didn’t Know I Needed

Peace for a Lifetime Review This book is the first in a trifecta of books that I really needed to read (but didn’t realize how much I needed to read them). Reading Peace for a Lifetime is like sitting down with a friendly counselor in the comfort of my own… Read more“Peace for Lifetime: The Self-Help Book I Didn’t Know I Needed”

Swear Words Can Ruin a Good Book

Call me old-fashioned, but what happened to the genre of YA fiction where the main character can negotiate her way through trials and tribulations without dropping the F-bomb or wallowing through piles of potty language? I know, I know, I sound like an uninformed prude who doesn’t realize that ‘the… Read more“Swear Words Can Ruin a Good Book”

And It Was Beautiful–A Book Review

I didn’t want to read this book. I hate knowing the end of the story before I begin, and one can’t be in the Christian blogging world without knowing how the story ends. I avoided reading Kara Tippett’s first book The Hardest Peace, because, well, it’s about cancer. Ever since… Read more“And It Was Beautiful–A Book Review”

Book Review of A Spy’s Devotion

Lovers of inspirational historical novels won’t want to miss Melanie Dickerson’s latest offering, A Spy’s Devotion—her first entry in the Regency genre. My middle and high school students love her previous books, clever retellings of fairy tales, but I worried that they would find a Regency novel inaccessible. Let me… Read more“Book Review of A Spy’s Devotion”

You Need This Book if You’re Affected by Bipolar Disorder

Here’s the skinny on the book that everyone should read if they know someone with a bipolar disorder diagnosis. I remember the nurse wheeling me out of the hospital with a lanky newborn on my lap dressed in a white onesie with vibrant giraffes strewn all over it. My first baby… Read more“You Need This Book if You’re Affected by Bipolar Disorder”

Why Your Church Needs to Quit Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting

I have a love-hate relationship with all things churchy—especially Wednesday night prayer meetings. My first memory of prayer meeting involved a dimly lit church, really old people (at the tender age of seven, everyone over 15 looked REALLY old), off-key hymns (evidently the organist didn’t attend prayer meeting), intoned prayers… Read more“Why Your Church Needs to Quit Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting”

The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest: A Book Review

Unexpected Gifts “She wrote my name in it!” a student exclaimed as she gazed in wonder at the title page to Melanie Dickerson’s latest book, The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest and saw her name and a personal message from Melanie inscribed there. The squeals of the eight excited girls rang… Read more“The Huntress of Thornbeck Forest: A Book Review”