Only shades of Red & Pink for the month of February because love. Honestly, I didn’t mean to do it but then I noticed it three books in and I HAD to keep up with it. I really wish I could do a theme each month but sometimes you just have that one book you want to read that doesn’t match you know? And you cannot really help it! But photographing a stack of books that just feel like the go together is a dream!
Neighborhood Library Update: If you read last month’s book post, you heard that they took away my 35-year-old neighborhood library. They finally responded by adding a “bookmobile” to a nearby park on Fridays allowing returns and hold pickups. So I put a ton of stuff back on hold to take advantage of having a library(ish) nearby again. Maybe the library books will be coming back to these blog posts or maybe I will only use it for kids books 😉 Either way, I wanted to keep you in the loop of our neighborhood library saga (I know you are literally hanging on the end of your seat!)
Before the King by Heather Kaufman
5 Stars: This book!! It was magnificent. My heart swelled, my eyes watered, and I saw familiar stories with a fresh perspective. It is a good reminder to know that the names mentioned in the Bible had real lives and, specifically Joanna, knew Jesus personally. So incredible. While much of the story is inferred and imagined, much of it is true – and that fact is challenging and inspiring! I ordered the first book in this series because Heather Kaufman is an incredible writer and researcher and I want to read all her stories! Please read this and watch a brave women mentioned a couple times in the Gospel, come to life before your eyes!
Set in Stone by Kimberley Woodhouse
5 Stars: I have been reading my way through the Treasures of the Earth series and simultaneously planning a homeschool trip to Dinosaur National Monument in the back of my mind! This series on women in science, the intersection of faith and science, paleontology, and Colorado (and our surrounding states) history has been very fun for me to read. I read and reviewed the first book last month and enjoyed it so much, I purchased the other two books in the series. While the books have the same feel and broader subject, they are filled with different characters and new storylines. Martha and Jacob carry this story so well and you cannot help but root for both of them! I had some assumptions from the beginning who was behind our mystery character, and enjoyed seeing the big reveal and pieces all come together. You cannot discount the joy of a happy ending and justice!! Such an enjoyable read!
The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
5 Stars: Oh my goodness. If you have not read this book yet, you need to! I read the book and also listened to the Focus on the Family Radio Theatre production – both are equally moving and personally convicting! This is a biography everyone should read, specifically Christians who want to be challenged in their faith. A beautiful, true story of God’s grace to sinners, his provision and sustenance to His children (even when it doesn’t look like what we expected), His forgiveness, and His kindness to use us in His work.
All That Really Matters by Nicole Deese
5 Stars: I honestly didn’t have high hopes when I started reading this book and realized the main character was a Social Media Influencer, but I pressed on because Nicole Deese has a way of making worlds come alive. Before I knew it, I was sucked in – enjoying the storyline – social media influencer and all! In fact, as an ex-influencer who walked away from it all (aka my large platform and $$$ from brand deals) the same year this book came out (2021) I was very sympathetic to Molly McKenzie and the challenges she faced. While our main stories are nowhere near the same, lots of little pieces were and it just was encouraging in an unexpected way. I have zero regrets of leaving social media – it has been so beneficial for my family and my home life. It was what the Lord asked me to do and He has been faithful to me through that. Seeing Molly open her eyes and her heart to “all that really matters” is beautiful. And seeing her bloom by taking her focus off herself and placing it on the Lord and others makes me so proud of her (and she isn’t even a real person!!) It is a wonderful read, modern storyline and all! Bring on book two in the McKenzie Family Romance series! HAHA.
A Hope Unburied by Kimberley Woodhouse
4 Stars: This was another engaging and quick read – the last in this series. In hindsight, I think it would be better to space these books out a bit more as there is a lot of “samesies” that shines through when you read them back to back! The first book mostly stands on it’s own, but the second two have the same kind of main character, same kind of hero, same kind of side villain, and even the same kind of murderer brought to justice at the end. This book also feels like it has more loose ends and less satisfaction in the wrap up/ how all the conflict is solved. Obviously, Devin and Eliza are made for each other and it is nice to have them finally together in the end! I still liked it!
The Dragon and the Stone by Kathryn Butler
3 Stars: When it comes to fantasy, it is hard to compete with the enthralling worlds and storylines of The Hobbit/ LOTR, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Princess and the Goblin/ The Princess and Curdie, and even Harry Potter. My kids were engaged, but we found that it was not captivating as some of the previously mentioned stories – it may be because the audiobook was a bit “meh” in my opinion. This book takes all the classic fantasy characters and pulls them together into a dream world with a good amount of expected troupes and scenes/ storylines that remind you of other stories. It is hard not to say that Pax is this world’s Aslan, see Smaug when you are fighting Eymaha, and imagine the scene in Toy Story when toys/ imaginings come crawling out of the sand! This isn’t necessarily bad, as it could be explained away by the fact that this world is the imaginations of humans, so, of course, the stories we all know and imagine would be present in this world but it also feels like lazy world building at times. It is also very fast paced while, at the same time, dragging on. We move from action to action – new characters, more magic, unexplained new powers, more drama, magic, action, and too many near death (but not resulting in death) experiences that we just stop caring. I wanted it to be better and maybe my standards are just too high? Overall, I think it is important to have clean, family-friendly fantasy stories available for young readers. So much of the genre is getting dark and twisted – moving away from the hope of light conquering darkness. We will continue with this series and I’m hopeful I’ll enjoy it more with lower expectations.
Tea with Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn
3 Stars: I am still trying to figure out exactly what happened in this book. Two friends who are both pretty self focused, have been disconnected due to life’s circumstances (and probably the fact that they are pretty self focused), come together for a trip of the lifetime and, now together away from the real world, are able to talk and process their lives. No real storyline or mystery or discovery. The answers to both of their life crisis are pretty obvious and (without trying to down play job loss and rough patches in a marriage) are able to be resolved anywhere – Africa just ends up being some random – and very detailed – backdrop. So many side characters show up and yet have no resolution in their stories. Don’t even get me started with the rude social media influencer! She just drops off the face of the earth and we get no resolutions or relationship. IMO her character doesn’t even feel real – it is more of a caricature of an influencer, not a real person. It could be an actual thing to happen in the book but then she just leaves early. And I personally, couldn’t get over this Colorado girl who apparently has never been to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo (sure it is possible) but if she had, she would have seen peacocks before and fed giraffes. Obviously, cooler to see in Africa but not something they would have NEVER done before. She felt awkwardly placed in Colorado but with no connection to the community here. Lastly, as a photographer, I CRINDGED every time they pulled out their phones and “zoomed in” to try to take pictures. Don’t do this. It is better to crop later than zoom in in the moment.
My favorite part was when they toasted “To the King and His kingdom!” I plan to do this in my own life from now own! My kids LOVE it when we cheers at the dinner table.
PS: If you like these little planters, they are both for sale on my Etsy shop! They are 3D printed mini planters that we designed in house and then arranged with beautiful artificial flowers (that will never die!) Here is the link to the planter on the left and here is the link to the one on the right!
It is a new year and I have a new reading goal! As of today we are 14/80 books read! You can check the status of my Goodreads report here. If you don’t already, follow me on Goodreads to see what I am reading, what I want to read, my favorite books, and every review I write! I also share all the books that I have rated 4 or 5 stars on my Amazon storefront where you can look for even more recommendations than just this monthly list! Always feel free to share recommendations with me – I am a big fan of word of mouth!