I love Ann H. Gabhart's books. I love the rural setting of the Eastern Kentucky Hills! It makes me miss the four years I lived among them. Ann was able to transport me back to those hills with a beautiful and endearing story. The Song of Sourwood Mountain is the story of a city schoolteacher who answered a call to completely step outside of her comfort zone and say "Yes" to God in a big way! Exploring the simple, yet complicated lives of those in the Appalachian mountains was an adventure that only made the city schoolteacher fall more in love with her new country home.
How she got there, why she stayed, and what happens next will be up to you to uncover as you read through this story! Get your copy here.
From the back cover:
"The doors she thought were closed forever are starting to open up . . . just a crack Though the century began with such promise, it is 1910 when Mira Dean's hopes of being a wife and mother are dashed to pieces. Her fiancé dead from tuberculosis, Mira resigns herself to being a spinster schoolteacher--until Gordon Covington shows up.
No longer the boy she knew from school, Gordon is now a preacher who is full of surprises. First, he asks Mira to come to Sourwood in Eastern Kentucky to teach at his mission school. Second, he asks her to marry him. Just like that.
With much trepidation, Mira steps out in faith into a life she never imagined, in a place filled with its own special challenges, to serve a people who just might end up becoming the family she always yearned for."
This book was given to me by Revell Reads in exchange for my honest review.
Smith does it again in her latest book release: "Daughter of Eden: Eve's Story". This story chronicles the first 6 chapters of Genesis, and she does a fantastic job at taking some very difficult and at times, otherworldly situations in the Bible that are hard to understand and give some context to the mystery in the Holy text.
From the creation of the world and its inhabitants to the creation of angels and those in what Smith calls the "unseen realm" to the explanation of how Nephilim were created and a time where people lived to be close to a thousand years old, Smith eloquently weaves a believable story throughout.
Of course this book takes a lot of liberty as all biblical fiction does in interpretation of scripture and filling in the gray areas and holes where the Bible leaves us guessing, but it left me hungry at the end to read God's word.
I highly recommend this book as it gives a fascinating view on what life was like "in the beginning..." Click here to get your copy today!
From the back cover:
When the greatest joys she has ever known are stripped away, the first woman must find the courage to face an unknown future The first time she opens her eyes, Eve gazes on one whose beauty nearly blinds her, whose breath is in her lungs. Her Creator takes her hand and gives her to another like her and yet different. Together, she and Adam experience pure joy as they explore Eden. Her favorite moments are when the Creator comes to walk with them, day after day.
Then everything changes.
Through one act of disobedience, Eve finds that her world is no longer a friendly place. With remorse in her heart, she must face the unknown future--the births, the deaths, the sacrifices, the loss of the only home she has ever known. Perhaps worst of all is the loss of trust, not only with her Creator but also with the man who shares her life. How will they ever survive out of Eden?
Bestselling biblical fiction author Jill Eileen Smith imagines the life of the first woman to ever live, unspooling an epic story of love, loss, and the promise of redemption.
This book was given to me by Revell Reads in exchange for my honest review.
A book that makes you hungry to open scripture has always become my favorite. I love to read biblical fiction, and Jill Eileen Smith is one of my favorite authors that really gets the job done. To bring to life not just the story of Joseph, but his father Jacob's as well and explores brother Judah's also, is quite the feat. Smith does an incredible job explaining some very difficult-to-read Bible stories and really breathes life into each person's story that grabs your attention.
The story of Judah and Tamar and the incestual affair they had, the level of Joseph's brother's betrayal and how they came to their conclusions, and exploring Jacob's favoritism between his sons are complex and dysfunctional family issues brought to light in this riveting book. How Joseph kept his cool being unfairly mistreated his whole life is an example of a man after God's Heart and an early representation of Jesus being led like a lamb to the slaughter later in the New Testament- unfairly convicted and quiet to protest.
Smith's book just came out last month and is one I highly recommend adding to your Spring porch reading list!
From the back cover:
"Two brothers. One betrayal.
The patriarch Jacob has made it no secret that young Joseph is his favorite son. Growing up as the pampered heir to his father's legacy, Joseph thrives under the praise of his father but struggles with the disdain of his older brothers, especially Judah. When a chance comes along to rid themselves of Joseph, his brothers sell him to slave traders and deceive their father about his fate.
Joseph, now serving the captain of Pharaoh's palace guard, is imprisoned after being falsely accused of rape. Back home, Judah leaves his father and builds a new life in Canaan, attempting to flee the memory of his complicity in the betrayal of his younger brother.
Decades later, the brothers will come face-to-face, and this time Joseph has the upper hand. Will forgiveness or vengeance win the day?"
I received this book for free from Revell Reads in exchange for my honest review.
I am a big fan of books and most of the time I read pretty heavy things like World War II fiction or stories of people surviving harrowing ordeals like human trafficking. Survival stories inspire me, and I love hearing how people overcome some of life's hardest struggles.
But every once in a while, I like to sit and get lost in a book that is more on the lighthearted side. This is similar to a Hallmark movie but has a lot more depth to the characters. Meg and Oliver are forced to work a lobster boat while Meg's father decides who gets the business at the end of the season. Will it be Meg, his only daughter, that doesn't want to lose their family legacy? Or will it be Oliver- long time and loyal deckhand who always wanted his own fishing boat?
Besides the budding love story, a bigger story emerges- one about forgiveness and how important it is to give people second chances and remember the old saying "Hurting people hurt people". As Meg and Oliver work the boat together, they learn a lot more about each other and their family members that puts the boat competition in a different perspective altogether.
I won't spoil it for you, but I really enjoyed wrapping up my summer reading with this great book. It is book one of a series and I am interested to see what will happen next on Prince Edward Island. Get your copy here.
From the Back Cover
"When Meg Whitaker's father decides to sell the family's lobster fishing business to her high school nemesis, she sets out to prove she should take it over instead. Though she's never had any interest in running the small fleet--or even getting on a boat due to her persistent seasickness--she can't stand to see Oliver Ross in charge. Not when he ruined her dreams for a science scholarship and an Ivy League education ten years ago.
Oliver isn't proud of what he did back then. Angry and broken by his father walking out on his family, he lashed out at Meg--an innocent bystander. But owning a respected fishing fleet on Prince Edward Island is the opportunity of a lifetime, as well as a way to provide for his mother, and he's not about to walk away just because Meg wants him to.
Meg's father has the perfect solution: Oliver and Meg will work the business together, and at the end of the season, he'll decide who gets it. Along the way, they may discover that their stories are more similar than they thought . . . and their dreams aren't what they expected."
I received this book for free from Revell Reads in exchange for my honest review.
Biblical Fiction has got to be one of my favorite genres! Jill Eileen Smith is one of the incredible Christian authors that can make someone's story out of the Bible jump right off the page and come to life!
I was thrilled to read about Miriam's account and get a glimpse into what it was like to live in the shadow of her little brother, Moses.
What courage it took for Miriam, as a little girl to watch her little brother be placed into the Nile River in hopes that he would be saved and not succumb to the wild waters or the creatures that lurked within. When Pharoah's daughter sees baby Moses in the basket and decides to raise him as her own, what strength it took for Miriam to step in and offer their own mother to be Moses' wet nurse.
Smith's book goes on to explore about 120 years worth of time between Miriam, Aaron, Moses, Joshua and Caleb's time. That is indeed a lot of ground to cover in one book and I think would have been more intriguing had she split this up and made it a series. Nonetheless, it makes for a thrilling account of the Israelite's exodus from Egypt and if you are a fan of Biblical fiction, this is not one to miss! Get your copy of this new book just released this month here.
From the Back Cover
She has prayed for deliverance from Egypt.
But perhaps the greatest liberation happens within the heart.
From the very beginning, Miriam has lived in her younger brother's shadow. Thrust into the role of protective older sister before Moses was even born, she will grow up into a woman who not only keeps her family's secret but bears the burden of leading a new nation.
In her mind, she knows that she is serving both her God and her people. But in her heart, Miriam yearns for more. She longs to experience the privileges Moses has--to talk with God face-to-face. But when God finally does speak directly to her, the outcome is not at all what she expects.
With her impeccable research and keen eye for detail, bestselling author Jill Eileen Smith offers this epic novel to fill in the gaps in Miriam's story, following her from childhood to motherhood, obscurity to notoriety, and yearning to fulfillment as she learns that what God promises He provides--in His own perfect timing.
I received an advanced copy of this book from Revell Publishing in exchange for my honest review.
When Mary came [to the place] where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet, saying to Him, "Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died."
John 11: 32 (AMP)
This season of Covid has lasted entirely too long if you want to ask my opinion. I don't think that any of us would have ever thought it would have been something we would still be talking about and wearing masks for a year after first hearing about it.
I call it a season because although it feels unending, it will end. People will remove the masks, go on vacations, and move on with their lives. It will become one of the events in human history that will be in the history books for our grandchildren to read about one day.
But for some people, including me, its presence is going to be felt the rest of my life. January 29, 2021, my father passed away from Covid pneumonia. He battled it valiantly for about 30 days. It came as a complete and utter shock to the entire family. He was healthy, had no pre-existing conditions, was not overweight, was in his mid-60's and never even had pneumonia before.
This wasn't supposed to happen. This wasn't supposed to be the way he went. It doesn't feel real. It honestly doesn't feel fair. I am mad, hurt, and I am telling God about it. I never in a million years thought my family would be apart of the statistics of a pandemic.
Although I am still struggling with enormous grief, I can find some consolation in God's word that so many people in the Bible, including Jesus himself, were no stranger to.
In the book of Job you read about him finding out about losing his livestock and his children all at the same time; "At this, Job got up and tore his robe and shaved his head. Then he fell down to the ground in worship..." Job 1:20.
This was Job's first response to grief. I can honestly say this was not my first response. I was a lot more like Mary, weeping and telling God He could have healed my daddy if he had wanted to. I was standing next to my Dad when he was here one moment and then another he was gone. I, like Mary, fell to my feet in tears in the hospital room.
I have lost grandparents that were near and dear to my heart, but I have never felt a loss like this before. I can barely even describe what it feels like.
Although I lost a father who I loved very much, I did come to the realization that my Heavenly Father does love me and He loves my earthly father. He has both mine and my daddy's best interest at heart, and to that I cling too.
My dad was a believer and I do have hope and reassurance that I will see him again. I do believe that this was another form of healing for my Father and know that when he got to meet His maker, see his father, mother, and sister who passed before him, it was such a sweet reunion.
But, I also can't deny that what was heaven's gain was my loss. So I began to search the scriptures for hope in this difficult time and came across Isaiah 53:5, "He (Jesus) was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering and familiar with pain."
I then went on to read the rest of the story of Mary, Martha and Lazarus when he (Lazarus) had passed and Jesus arrived and both Mary and Martha confronted him. It goes on to say: "When Jesus saw her sobbing, and the Jews who had come with her also sobbing, He was deeply moved in spirit [to the point of anger at the sorrow caused by death] and was troubled, and said "Where have you laid him?" They said, "Lord, come and see." Jesus wept" John 11:33-35 (AMP).
Although this story in the Bible has a happy ending (Jesus does raise Lazarus from the dead), I pause here to tell God thank you for something. I know Jesus had many purposes in doing what He did in this story: waiting 4 days before coming to see about Lazarus after hearing he had fallen ill and then choosing to raise Him. But, what I thank Jesus for in this story is that for a moment, he stepped into the grief and allowed that loss to wash over him and experience it, feel it, weep over it, and see what it did to the family and friends that deeply loved Lazarus.
This makes Jesus relatable. This makes me come to him with my anger, my hurt, my grief, and my questions. He hears me, He sees me, He understands. He cries with me, He holds me, He carries me at times when I feel too weak to go on. When Job's friends came to comfort him after tragedy struck his home, "...they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was" Job 2:13.
Sometimes I just sit with God, because I have no words and He is ok with that. God didn't turn my situation around like I would have hoped. I did pray for healing in my dad's body, He just chose to heal him in Heaven. As I grapple with things out of my control, I raise my hands in surrender to the one who is.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me.
2 Corinthians 12:9 (AMP)
When my family and I were praying and interceding for my daddy's healing, there was a song on my heart that I sang in the car and even in the hospital room. It became my anthem during the most difficult time of my life.
"God, Turn it Around" by Jon Reddick is a powerful song. For a while I couldn't listen to it after my dad passed, but it's words do still ring true. There are still so many out there grappling with loved ones who have COVID and this is why I share this song and write these words, because someone besides me needs to hear them.
Even if God doesn't turn our situations around or bring the healing we pray for, may we still be bold in our faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego and say, like they did when their faith was tested,
"our God whom we serve is able to rescue us from the furnace of blazing fire, and He will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods...” Daniel 3:17-18 (AMP)
I was first introduced to Sundin's work through my church library. I started with her "Sunrise at Normandy" Series about three Texas brothers whose path led them all to participate in one way or another in the battle of Normandy. It was such a fantastic series and each book really stood out alone. When the opportunity came with Revell Reads to be a first reader for her latest, "When Twilight Breaks" book that came out this month, I jumped at the opportunity!
The best thing about this novel is that it makes you want to bust open a history book (or do a simple Google search) to research and look up some of these historical events that are brought to life in the story.
You can tell Sundin does her research- from what the characters wear, to how they style their hair, to the kinds of cars driven in the era.
What I thought was most interesting is that this book is set in 1938 which is Pre- World War II. It explores so much about the thoughts, feelings, and emotions from those who sympathized with Hitler and the Nazi's and those of the Jews when the anti-semitic laws began to become more frequent and more harsh.
I highly recommend this book as a fantastic exploration of this time period that explores love, history, war, and faith in God when it is put to the ultimate test.
From the back cover:
Evelyn Brand is an American foreign correspondent determined to prove her worth in a male-dominated profession and to expose the growing tyranny in Nazi Germany. To do so, she must walk a thin line. If she offends the government, she could be expelled from the country--or worse. If she does not report truthfully, she'll betray the oppressed and fail to wake up the folks back home.
Peter Lang is an American graduate student working on his PhD in German. Disillusioned with the chaos in the world due to the Great Depression, he is impressed with the prosperity and order of German society. But when the brutality of the regime hits close, he discovers a far better way to use his contacts within the Nazi party--to feed information to the shrewd reporter he can't get off his mind.
As the world marches relentlessly toward war, Evelyn and Peter are on a collision course with destiny.
Get your copy today at Amazon or your favorite online retailer, or click here!
I was given a free copy of this book to review from Revell publishing in exchange for my honest review.
