This is a great book for this Christmas season. It’s gets you in the mood for the holidays. It is a story with many layers and keeps you on the edge of your seat. I normally am not into historical fiction, but this one was great. I enjoyed all of the characters, surprises, twists, and character change in the book.
If you enjoy the Victorian era or just want a good Christmas read, you will like this book.
Thank you Multnomah for giving me this book to review.
It’s taken me a while to get this book review up, but that’s because I couldn’t read through the Bible in 90 days. I’ve been going for almost two years now, and I’m up to Haggai. Even though it has taken me a while, it has been a rewarding experience. I’ve read books and passages I’ve always skipped over and am able to see the flow of God’s story more clearly. I am days away from the New Testament. It will be exciting to see the culmination of the OT prophecies in Jesus and how he shows how God’s grace works through the example of his life.
I’ve enjoyed reading passages from 90 Days Thru the Bible at the end of each book of the Bible. It has given me insight into what some of the books mean in the big picture of God’s story and some things to think about in my life as well.
Very well written by a knowledgeable author. Thank you Tyndale for giving me this book and allowing me to review it.
The Girl in the Glass
This may just be the best book I’ve read this year. And I’ve already checked out two more of her books from the library.
Susan Meissner is an incredible writer. Her characters have depth. The story isn’t predictable. The setting of Florence comes alive. From the first page, I knew I was reading the work of a great writer and the entire book was a joy to read.
I loved the main character and the real life struggles she faced–being disappointed by people around her, not knowing if she can trust her own feelings, and trying to make everyone in her life happy. Through all of this, Meg is also overwhelmed by the beauty of Florence and the breathtaking artwork that came out of the Italian Renaissance. Every aspect of the story comes together beautifully.
I will be reading every book by Susan Meissner that I can get my hands on. Someday, I also hope to sit in one of her writing classes. For now I’ll learn all I can from her works.
This is a five-star book easily. A+!
Thank you Water Brook for giving me this copy to review.
Need You Now
This is a book that really encompasses character change. The main character, Darlene, started out as someone I couldn’t relate to. She was completely blind to her family’s problems and seemed to be purposefully naive to her kids’ struggles in particular. She allowed friends of the opposite gender in her teenaged boy’s room alone, let other friends in her kids’ room to spend time with them alone before she got to know them, and just hoped they weren’t doing anything they shouldn’t. Yikes! Talk about Pollyanna!
I related much better to one of the secondary characters, Layla. She was Darlene’s gritty neighbor who ran her own ranch. But she was on the bitter side of life, and Darlene was able to help her with it. And thankfully after a few life circumstances and the help of Layla, Darlene started to wise up herself. The author brought some great character change to Darlene and took her from naive mom to a mom with a little spunk, who would do anything to help her kids.
I’m glad I hung in there with Darlene to see her eyes open and her spirit change. Every female protagonist needs a little spunk to keep things interesting!
Great read! It covered many issues that teens are facing today and issues that parents are facing as well.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me this book to review.
What an extraordinary story! I enjoyed reading about the miraculous events in Mary’s life and what God taught her through them. And more than what God taught her – how he transformed her.
These events in Mary’s life, including seeing heaven and coming back to earth, prepared her for the work she still needed to do on earth and also prepared her for other things she would go through.
There were some doctrinal issues in the book that I disagree with, but for the most part, I was encouraged by Mary and what she has to say in the book. It certainly helped me to remember that miraculous events still happen and that they are all around us. We will see them if we just open our eyes and look.
Great book! Four stars from me.
Thank you to the publisher for giving me this copy to review.
I really enjoyed this book. Kasey is amazingly open and honest. She tells her story of finding God and finding forgiveness. But also speaks of terrible judgmental attitudes of those around her–people she used to call friends.
Kasey is encouraging to anyone who has sin in their lives (which would be every human living today) and illustrates beautifully how God fully forgives and uses our weakness for his purpose.
Book description: In many ways, Kasey Van Norman has suffered more heartbreak than one woman can bear. Growing up, she endured her parents’ divorce, date rape, and years of addiction to sex, cutting, and eating disorders. As an adult, Kasey has endured a painful miscarriage; the heartbreak (and restoration) of infidelity; a cancer diagnosis; rejection by her friends, church, and community; and her mother’s death from cancer. But at the end of this twisting path of sorrow, Kasey walked out of the wilderness and into a place of God’s merciful and miraculous healing and redemption. In Named by God, Kasey shares her story of God’s infinite grace and compassion so that others might learn from her experience as they encounter a depth of Jesus like never before!
Thank you to the publisher for providing this copy for review.
It took me a very long time to read this book (between entertaining my 4-year-old and getting my own work done), but I’m glad I kept at it.
For the most part, I really liked the book. I enjoyed the modern day story. The historical part of the book (which I didn’t realize was going to be a storyline before I started reading it) took me a little longer to get into, but it’s just because I prefer modern stories over historical ones. It all ended up being really good though.
The story of the life of the wedding dress was great. What I didn’t like was that it seemed to have powers. That didn’t work for me. And I’m not sure what to think of the guy in purple who seemed to span a hundred years and not change. I’m thinking he was supposed to represent God. If that’s the case, I’m a little uncomfortable with that as well. I don’t think God should be portrayed as a weirdo with bad fashion sense.
Other than those two things, I thought the book was a good read. The character of Charlotte was great (although her name and the historical character’s name got accidentally switched a couple of times in the book). I would give the book 3.5 stars. The things that keep it from being a 5 for me are the two things mentioned in the above paragraph and the ending was a little hokey, and unrealistic. But I have a feeling, the author wasn’t going for realistic in this book. It lies a little more on the fantastic side of things.
Thank you to the publisher for providing this ebook for review.
The title says it all!
Introverted, quiet people need more respect for being who they are. There is an extrovert ideal in this nation that began in the early 1900s. Before that, people were respected for their character and craftsmanship instead of their vibrant personality.
This book has made me very happy. It’s about time someone came out and said that half the population of the U.S. is introverted and they have so much to offer – including leadership abilities. They often get overlooked for management or leadership positions because of their discerning, quiet demeanor. But this kind of person often makes the best leader.
I enjoyed every bit of this book, which took years for Susan Cain to research and write. It was a labor of love to give quiet people the confidence to be who they are and know when to act the part of the extrovert.
Thank you Susan! I will highly recommend this book to many friends and family!
This book was provided by the publisher. I give it 5 stars!
I have a four-year-old daughter who loves to learn, so I thought this book that is written from a child’s point of view about heaven would be great for her. And I was right. She loved every bit of it.
The book is only about 20 pages long. The chapters are very short. I told her I was going to read one chapter each day to her. Well, that didn’t’ happen. When I was finished with the first chapter, she asked me to read the next one, and the next one after that. And before I knew it, I had read the whole book to her, including the questions and answers at the end, in one sitting. She loved it!
What I love about the book is that it tells of Colton’s experience of going to heaven and seeing Jesus seated at the right hand of God and the Holy Spirit seated on the left. He describes everything he saw in heaven and the people he met there, and it sounds absolutely wonderful. The best part about it is that it all aligns with Scripture as well.
I love his description of Jesus, and the painting of Jesus’ face in his book is amazing. All of the other pictures that illustrate what Colton saw in heaven really help kids to picture what he describes as well.
I give this high marks. It’s a great book! My daughter and I will probably read it many more times.
This book is a must for all Christian writers who are looking to get published. Here’s all the information you need compiled into one book. This saves a tremendous amount of work for the writer. I think what will be the most helpful is the listing of Christian literary agents. Most of the big Christian publishers out there don’t accept unsolicited manuscripts (those sent in by writers not through an agent), or they publish very few unsolicited manuscripts, so it is better for a writer to focus on finding an agent.
Other areas of interest in the book are the listings of Christian writers conferences around the nation. It also lists Christian writers’ clubs. These are great ways to improve your writing and maybe meet editors and agents in person, who can offer invaluable advice about writing and getting published.
For me, all the vital information in this book starts on page 451 in the Helps for Writers section. The info on the publishers is great, but sending out unsolicited manuscripts to publishers in not the way to go. You will only face rejection after rejection. What you need to do is get yourself in front of agents and editors in person. So all the info about agents and conferences is what I would focus on.
Thank you Tyndale for giving me this book for review.
The Christian Book Review - Vanessa Carroll's reviews of current Christian books 