Beautiful Nate by Dennis Mansfield

Honest.  Challenging.  Painful.  Full of grief.  These are just a few of my thoughts that I had when I read through this book.  It is a great book that was hard to read at times because my heart broke for Nate.  As a mom, this would be one of my worst nightmares...something happening to my child, especially something they did to themselves.

As parents, we know we make lots of mistakes and no parenting book will ever match your children perfectly.  No two children are a like.  Yet we still read them and at times, we beat ourselves up for not matching their advice or for perhaps failing at some of their plans.  However, I like that this book isn't a parenting book.  It's a book about life lessons learned from a son and two parents looking back and seeing where mistakes were made.  I see it as a mentoring thing, where they are sharing with those younger the things they have learned.

Addiction is a painful thing to deal with, especially when it affects a Christian family whose parents have tried their best to instill Christian values and the love of Christ in their homes.  I appreciate their honesty about drug addiction and their family.  It has to be a hard thing to discuss, but I really appreciate that they didn't try to hide behind being the "perfect Christian family" and dared to show the realness of their situation so others who are going through this can be encouraged.

I did cry in this book, but I expected to.  My mommy heart just couldn't help it!  This book will be a great encouragement to many walking this road with their children and will be a great guiding book for those who are just now parenting younger children.

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I received this book free from Howard Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

A Scent of Lilacs by Ann H. Gabhart

This side of Ann H. Gabhart's writing is new to me.  I have been used to reading her books based on the Shakers.  This was a delight to read.  I must say that the cover on this book is absolutely gorgeous.  I loved the shading of the girl on the steps and the beautiful eye-catching purple lilacs that grab your attention and emphasis the title of the book. It looks very modern and simply beautiful.

This book is full of very relatable lessons, such as the importance of forgiving and how devestating lies can be.  Even though the truth can heart and leave you quite vulnerable feeling, the truth is always the best.  I hated to see her learn the truth and deal with the pain and wrestle with forgiveness, but I feel like that's what we all relate to.  Life isn't tied up in a neat and tidy bow by the end of our lives.  Sometimes our lives are messy right up until our death.  

I appreciate that Gabhart wrote with such honesty and truth and dealt with the messes instead of writing them away real quickly.  I like how she put some humor into the story at just the right moments to help you, as the reader, deal with some of the hard truths you were finding out about Jocie and her family.

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I received this book free from Revell Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Swept Away by Mary Connealy

I like this western-themed book so much.  It's a great start to Mary Connealy's new series, Trouble in Texas.  Connealy's characters stay true to her typical style of writing that I very much enjoy.  Rosie (I mean, Ruthy) and Luciano (ah....Luke) are two very different people but they also share some of the same qualities.  

I love the spunk of Ruthy and the stubbornness of Luke.  I like how Ruthy holds her own with Luke and is actually pretty good at tracking in the woods.  I like how Luke rescues Ruthy but then doesn't know what to do with her!  I find it funny that Ruthy could clean the rooms so well with no one hearing her.  She had a pretty good plan in place so her footsteps and sounds would go undetected.

Greer was a disgusting man and one that I truly did not like.  He was mean, dirty, and scary.  I disliked his temper and how he hurt his poor wife and threatened her children.  I'm hoping Dare plays a bigger part in Glynna's life in the next book.  She needs something happy to happen to her!

I am really looking forward to the next book in this series.  I will definitely be looking for it.  It looks like I won't have to wait too long, since it's scheduled to come out in August!

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For more reviews on this book, go to http://litfusegroup.com/author/mconnealy 

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I received this book free from Bethany House Publishers and from Litfuse Publicity Group in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Secretly Smitten by Colleen Coble, Kristin Billerbeck, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter

You can't get much better than this book!  This book and Smitten include 4 of my favorite authors who love to include humor in their writings.  I think all 4 of these authors tell beautiful stories and to combine them all together in the same book is perfect.

I love the town of Smitten and how quaint and different it is.  In my head I picture a simple place that is beautiful and full of lots of wonderful memories.

I like that each author wrote a short novella.  I would have liked to read more of each of the stories just because I really got into the stories, but I did like the short stories that each wrote.  They did a good job in hooking their readers from the beginning of each story and I liked how the book flowed 

from author to author.

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I received this book free from the Booksneeze program by Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

My Very First Easter Story Sticker Book by Lois Rock and Alex Ayliffe

What a fun book for children!  My children really liked this book and the different activities in it.  I liked that it wasn't just a sticker book, but also an activity book.  At the bottom of each page, there are little activities for the children to do.  They are simple and are ones that can lead to more conversation with your children, such as where are the children saying their prayers, etc.  

My favorite part of the book is the Easter story, of course.  I like how it stays true to the Word and doesn't leave out who betrayed Jesus.  When I read this book to my 2-year-old and 4-year-old, I added in more details from the Bible because they have been learning it.  We had a lot of discussion on Easter as well.  

I like that this book made us stop and sit on the couch and spend some time together as a family reflecting on Christ and what He did for us.

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I received this book free from Kregel Publications in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

A Quilt for Jenna by Patrick E. Craig

I really enjoyed reading this book.  Since I really enjoy Amish fiction, I knew I had to read this one, too.  I think the cover on this book is beautiful, from the slick feel of the book to the glossy look of a picture of an Amish woman who is full of sadness and grief and a beautiful quilt.  

This is the first book in Patrick E. Craig's new series, Apple Creek Dream series.  I am looking forward to the rest of the books in this series.  A Quilt for Jenna had something for every reader, romance, suspense, and mystery.

My most favorite part of this book, which really surprised me, was the air of mystery that went from the beginning of the book to the end.  I normally don't like the mystery to be sustained and like to peek in the back of the book to see what happened (yes....I'm a bad reader!!!) so I can prepare myself.  However, I didn't look forward at all in this book and actually found that I enjoyed the mystery that surrounded Jenna's death and the story of the little girl and Reuben.  I liked how the story would tell the back story and history and then tell what was happening in the present and the urgency of the present.

I have never read anything by Patrick E. Craig.  I am very excited to read the rest of the series.

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I received this book free from Harvest House Publishers in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.

Deeply Loved by Keri Wyatt Kent

The timing of this book is absolutely perfect because we are coming upon Easter and are already in Lent.  Although Lent means has sometimes lost its meaning with some (like "I'm just giving something up because everyone else is doing it and I want to see if I have the discipline to do it...plus, it's good to do."), for many Lent is truly a time where they spend more time in the Word and more time contemplating what Christ did on the cross.  This is a time to grow deeper to God and to see Him for who He truly is and for God to reveal more of Himself to us.

I'm very picky about my devotionals I use.  I don't tend to review a lot of them because I like them to be scripturally sound and make me spend more time in the Word than a book that gives me someone else's opinion of the homework they did while they were pouring over the passage.  I like studying it for myself and giving God the opportunity to open my eyes and reveal things to me.  That said, when I heard about this book and read the info about it, I was intrigued enough to want to review it and actually anticipated getting it in the mail.

I'm happy to report that this book has met my criteria and is one that I plan to use over and over again.  I love how the focus is on God and not on us.  I like that Keri wants you to spend time praying about specific things and meditation on those promises of God.  I like that she kept going back to being quiet and still, something that is so counter-cultural and probably the thing that everyone struggles with the most.  I also like how she reminds us to look for Christ in the day-to-day things we do and to anticipate Him working..  I'm thankful that she did not just focus on how Jesus loves us.  That's true, but she kept pointing you back to Scripture and finding out who God is.  Without knowing who God is, what His promises are, and what His character is like, your love for God won't grow.

I know Lent is almost over and Easter is almost here, but this is a great book to put in Easter baskets to do after Easter.  What a great gift to give someone....a guide that helps you understand more of who God is without you reading her opinions.  She does give a little devotional at the beginning of each day, but I think the "meat" of the day is the "Presence Practice" that ends the day.  That's where the work comes into play and the focusing on the spiritual disciplines.

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I received this book free from Abingdon Press in exchange for my honest opinion of this book.