Book Reviews

A Couple Books I Loved

If you saw my ever growing to-be-read pile, you might wonder how I choose what to read next. Often it comes back to which authors I’ve come to trust. The ones I know I’ll enjoy a good story that I can’t put down. A week ago I read a couple by some of my favorite…

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Last Night in Twisted River by John Irving

The plot, improbable as it is: Danny, the twelve-year-old son of a logging community’s cook, walks in on his dad and his dad’s lover (Jane), whom he mistakes as a bear. To be fair, Danny’s dad, nicknamed Cookie, gave Danny a tall-tale about fending off a bear (common in the northeast region) from the house…

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Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

A satire on two generations of Americans and the American dream (or, more accurately, dreams), Jonathan Franzen wrote a book that at times seems more case-study than novel. Because of this, for a good part of the book, the characters seem almost more caricature than individual. Of course, the big twist in the end is…

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Review: Lucky Baby by Meredith Efken

After years of swearing she’d never be a mother–particularly because she doesn’t want to turn into her mother, who withheld her approval from Meg–Meg longs to adopt a child. She and her husband, Lewis, adopt an older girl from China, desiring both to give Eva a home and to overcome their pasts of emotional family…

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Dead in Christ?

Are you a dead man walking? My girls and I are studying leaves in Botany this week. It’s more fascinating than you’d think! For instance, in the fall, when leaves exchange their bright greens for autumn hues of red, orange, and yellow…those colors are actually the true color those leaves were all along. The chlorophyll…

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The Vow by Ed Gungor

The first time I heard Ed Gungor speak was when I was at Missionary Boot Camp in college getting ready to spend 6 weeks in Nigeria. He was fun and passionate about Jesus. What I remember most is his silly songs that got the college kids all riled. He was down to earth and real.…

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Happily Even After

Looking for a book that looks at married love with a touch of sass? Then Happily Even After is the book for you! Marilynn Griffith’s latest release, this book is an honest and hilarious look at the challenges of maintaining love in marriage while establishing some badly needed boundaries. The latest installment in the Sassy…

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Michelle Sutton’s review of The Betrayed by Lisa T. Bergren

About the book: A religious thriller. An epic historical. An award-winning author with one million books in print. Second in the breathtaking trilogy. The first book in Lisa T. Bergren’s Gifted trilogy, The Begotten, was hailed by Library Journal as “a full-bodied, absorbing tale that combines authentic historical detail with a universally appealing and gripping…

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Saturday Morning Review: Nobody by Creston Mapes

What do you get when you take an ambitious reporter out for a story and a murdered homeless man with a surprisingly large amount of money in his pocket? You get NOBODY! Through one rash decision, Hudson Ambrose is faced with his own human degradation while seeking out the truth about this much -loved, mysterious…

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Simplify by Paul Borthwick

If you’ve been following my blog these last few weeks you already know I’ve been feeling a little stressed out and over committed. Simplify by Paul Borthwick was just what I needed. And God knew it even before I agreed to participate in this book review. Everything about this book is simple. The cover, the…

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