May was a great month for reading – it must have been a birthday gift to me! I enjoyed and devoured all these stories and books this month! Everything coming in a 4 or 5 stars! Wahoo! This month also marks a non-library month! All these books I had preordered or purchased at some point so they were all already sitting on my bookshelves. It is always encouraging to get more of these owned books checked off my reading list!
For a Lifetime by Gabrielle Meyer
5 Stars: You know when you start a series and you’re never quite sure the sequels will ever live up to the hype? The Timeless books keep blowing me away. How can there be another perfectly different yet same story that is on par with BOTH the books before?!?! I cannot even pick a favorite book in this series because they are all unique stories that pull me into this world of time crossers and they all fit together/ play off each other so well! This one with time crossing twins and the Salem witch trials. Some twists you see coming, others you don’t! The reader is submerged into two very real time periods and navigating their choices as they live faithfully where they have been planted! A million stars, I already preordered the next one and could read these books forever.
PS: Hope gets more likable overtime 😉
Habits for a Sacred Home by Jennifer Pepito
5 Stars: This book was so good. I preordered it knowing that I would love it and I was not disappointed! This book is filled with encouraging words, inspirational women of faith, tried and true lifestyle habits/ daily rhythms (from the Benedictine Monks,) and manageable takeaways! It is no secret that I’ve been intentionally learning and creating rhythms for our family this year and this book helped solidify some habits and bring up new ideas. What I love the most is how Biblically based this book is – even including a verse to memorize each chapter as well as space to process what the Lord is inviting your family into this season. Each chapter has a “further reading” section which added nearly 20 books to my “to-read” list but I’m not complaining one bit! I recommend this book to every mother who wants to be intentional about bringing the Lord into her family’s daily rhythms!
Go as a River by Shelley Read
5 Stars: I picked this book up at a local book store promoting a local author and, because I am a sucker for local history and community, I picked it up having no idea what it was about (except I know those southwest Colorado peaches on the cover!!) This book is a historical fiction novel and had me googling “Iola,” where exactly those Palisade Peaches we love so much come from, and really anything about that area of Colorado and the history there. It is harder and sadder than I anticipated it being going into it, but there is still a bit of hope & redemption at the end. As a wife and a mother, there were a couple parts that my heart heaved in my chest and I felt Victoria’s griefs but I also rejoiced for her as her life continued on and she still opened her heart to care and nurture others in different ways. There was deep pain but also glimpses of beauty. Her actions and choices impacted her greatly as well as the actions of those around her and I think that is what made the book and story feel so real. It was relatable, not perfect or pretty, but real and messy. I will say that it felt too slow at some points and possibly too fast at others, but after finishing it, I look back on the story very fondly and I’m no longer bothered by the slow or fast parts!
PS: I started the audiobook and I did not like it. I enjoyed reading this one on my own much more just FYI for anyone else out there who may like to know this.
Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens
5 Stars: This is another one of the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre audio dramas that we have been listening to and it is another hit with me! What an amazing and heartbreaking story! Like everyone else, I knew the “please sir, may I have some more?” plea from little Orphan Oliver but I knew nothing beyond that! And after the only familiar plot point happened at the beginning of the book, I was caught up in the story as a first time reader and had no idea what would happen next. It took me by surprise & broke my heart, yet I loved it. I can only imagine reading this when it was written and reflecting on the social commentary Dickens was making. However still, decades later, the reader can question the type of person they are, the type of faith they have, and how they will choose to treat people and their community. A true classic.
PS: This is the book link and here is the link to the audio drama by Focus on the Family!
Amazing Grace: The Inspirational Stories of William Wilberforce, John Newton, and Olaudah Equiano
5 Stars: Radio Theatre needs to put out more of these radio dramas because they are absolutely incredible! I loved hearing all three of these stories and how they were all tied together. I wish that the stories were longer but appreciated more backstory of familiar historic names. Very hard to listen to at times as slavery is horrendous but still powerful, moving, and very well done! I can’t wait to share these with my kids when they are older!
Cloud of Witnesses: A Treasury of Prayers and Petitions through the Ages
5 Stars: Ever since attending and belonging to an Anglican Church, we have been interested in ways to bring literacy and church history into our home to help build our faith and be encouraged by “so great a cloud of witnesses” that have come before us. This book is filled with historical prayers from many denominations, generations, locations, and centuries! We are reading one prayer a day as part of our homeschool morning time rhythms. This works really well because many of the prayers have historical information that we get to read in addition to better know and understand the context of these prayers. Even though my kids are young, they are picking up on habits and rhythms of talking to God through these prayers. I love to hear my 5-year-old at the dinner table saying things like “most merciful God” and “we praise you and thank you for your abundant blessings.” It helps all of us to have a growing bank of words and ways to pray to the Lord to help grow our relationship with him. Every historical prayer was personal to someone and can be personal to us too!
My only complaint is that I wish the book was organized to have the history of the prayers right after the written prayer OR two built-in bookmark ribbons so that I can mark my place in the prayers as well as the historical context area.
The Song of Sourwood Mountain by Ann H. Gabhart
4 Stars: This was a sweet Christian historical fiction book. While I wasn’t a fan of the arranged marriage / marry before you know each other plotline, it worked out just fine. The part I loved the most was Mira learning to love and care for the people in a new community and help uncover and redeem broken parts of her and their stories. The build up to the ending was a little anticlimactic and I wish there was more understanding and closer in some parts. Over all, a good story that I enjoyed reading and finished in a couple days.
PS: I think I could have also rated it three stars, but I am willing to look past some things that bothered me when reading the book now that I am finished with it.
The Way Home by Tessa Afshar
4 Stars: We did this study in my women’s Bible Study group and I honestly enjoyed a fresh perspective on the book and story of Ruth. Ruth can often feel like a marriage story with Boaz the hero, and while that is part of the story, there is so much going on! Through this reading, I saw the characters more as individuals living their faith story. And I was challenged and convicted that our actions and choices impact those around us: How bitterness can put blinders on us focusing only on our needs and not those around us. How God’s mercies are new every morning and there is always a chance to pivot and make better choices. How faithfulness and doing the next right thing is woven together in a bigger story. How our kindness and generosity and selflessness can bless and change those around us.
Study wise, there was a lot of busy work and “look this up to write one word down” prompts and I didn’t like that. Some parts were really interesting and thought provoking, while others felt like an elementary worksheet. I also greatly disliked how the video notes pages were written. It was very hard to take notes the way the wanted us to and even see where we were in the video compared to the random written notes. It felt like the note pages were an after thought to the videos. It would have been better to just have blank pages.
Concept gets 5 stars and the workbook layout gets 3 stars, rounding out at 4 overall.
According to my Goodreads tracker, my current count is 40/75! All books that I have rated 4 or 5 stars are added to my Amazon lists here where you can look for even more recommendations than this list! Follow me on Goodreads to see what I am reading, what I want to read, some of my favorite books, and every review I write! Any other books I should add to my list? Leave a comment and let me know!
