The Help Meet Wife

I will start by saying I thoroughly enjoyed reading Stumbling On Open Ground by Ken Mansfield. I was very touched by the spiritual insight he gained and shared while going through his cancer battles. I especially loved the intro to each chapter by his wife, Connie. Ken's story is very interesting, kept my attention, and was easy to read. I definitely got a lot of spiritual help from the book. However, my only complaint was that this book tended to be rather confusing to me. I am in my 20s and not a rock and roll fan, so all the talk of Apple Records and names he mentioned didn't mean anything to me and just confused me further trying to piece together who was who and what was going on. Also, the actual details of his cancer battles tended to be very sparse and disjointed - I often found myself wondering what was happening during the story as it jumped around quite a bit and on one page he had a year to live and then onto the next chapter he's been cancer free for 5 or more...

I just finished reading Fearless by Eric Blehm. This is a book that will touch your heart, inspire you, make you laugh, and make you cry. The book follows the life story of Adam Brown and how he went from a crack addict to a top level Navy SEAL. This is one of the books you read in just a day or two because you won't be able to put it down. As I got closer to the end I was hoping it would end miraculously instead of with his death, but I knew he died. It was sad to get toward the end and read about his death, but inspiring and necessary. I highly, highly recommend reading this book. Not only is it entertaining, it will help you remember never to take for granted what you have and live each day as if it may be your last. Tiny note that this book does contain some language - but I expected it might considering the subject matter. However, I was a little surprised it was published like this with a Christian publisher. Still absolutely worth reading, though. I received a copy of th...

Twice A Bride by Mona Hodgson was definitely a lighter read. It's a historical romance novel set in Cripple Creek. It follows Willow Peterson, a young widow, who becomes an artist. I didn't realize that this was Book 4 of a series - I don't like reading series books out of order as a general rule. However, this book was able to stand on its own without being too confusing, although I think it would've been better had I read the first three books. The character development left a bit to be desired, but I think that may be due to this being the last book in a series. Overall, this book was interesting, albeit predictable, and a nice easy read for those who love Christian romance novels. I received a copy of this book from Blogging For Books in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

I have to say that this is definitely one of those books that will capture your attention immediately and you will have trouble putting it down. I read it in one day. It was easy to read, compelling, heartfelt, and a page turner. This book takes you through Micah Ramsey's battle with Ewing's Sarcoma, an aggressive cancer. He was diagnosed at just 15. I was inspired and moved by Micah's determination to glorify God through his cancer journey and encouraged by his strength and hope. I will admit that certain aspects of this book disturbed me a bit - such as the family's decision not to pursue chemotherapy or radiation for his cancer and rather try other, unconventional methods to treat his cancer. However, that was their personal decision to make. Overall, I finished reading this book with an awe of Micah's faith in God, and inspired by his words and writings that Dani shared from his journal. I received a copy of this book from BookCrash in exchange for an honest...

Heaven Changes Everything: Living Every Day With Eternity In Mind by Todd and Sonja Burpo is a companion devotional to Todd Burpo's book, Heaven Is For Real (which I have read and reviewed very favorably). This book is a good devotional and has many good thoughts and messages which I did enjoy. However, as someone who has already read Heaven Is For Real, I found this devotional a bit repetitive of the story I'd already read. It wasn't really "new" material in places, so I had trouble keeping my interest in it at points. However, one new thing about this book was that Sonja wrote portions of it and shared her perspective on various things, so that was very interesting to me, as she didn't write in Heaven Is For Real. Overall, this was a good, solid devotional. I think this would make a great gift for someone who is curious about heaven or Christianity, or is a new Christian. I am glad I read it and enjoyed it, but it might better suit the purposes of someone w...

I am a cookbook lover and collector. I'm pretty picky about which cookbooks I add to my collection, as many cookbooks look promising, but then as I flip through them, contain many recipes that I don't like or wouldn't make. However, I think I can say I have just found my new favorite cookbook. Return To Sunday Dinner by Russell Cronkhite is one of those rare gems that I flip through and want to make literally every single recipe inside. The pictures are beautiful, and the format is engaging and includes personal stories from the author and interesting tidbits. Differently than many cookbooks, the recipes are sorted as full menus as opposed to type of food (appetizer, main dish, veggies, sides, desserts, etc). I like this menu format as it allows you to create the perfect Sunday dinner from start to finish. My only complaint about this cookbook would be that it doesn't have a picture for every recipe. I know this isn't always feasible, but I do like to see a pictur...