book review – Page 7 – Leah E. Good

November 8, 2014

Book Review: Sacred Singleness

Being single is not something I personally struggle with. At this season of my life, I’m thankful God has blessed me with contentment for where He has me and willingness to wait and see what He has next. However, like most people my age, I have occasional questions about what God wants me to use this time for. I also have plenty of friends who struggle with singleness more than I do.

This book has been sitting on a shelf in our house for almost a year. I’d forgotten about it. But last week I read a blog post by a young woman serving as a foster mom to eleven special needs orphans in India. She expressed that one of the hardest things about being a foster mother was still being single. As I read the post, I thought to myself that I wished I had a book to recommend to friends and acquaintances struggling with being single. So I dug up this book by Leslie Ludy and started reading.

Sacred Singleness lays out the power and beauty of single years that are surrendered to Christ. It points out that while popular “wisdom” tells us to make ourselves available and “help God out” by seeking and attracting the attention of potential marriage partners, God tells us to be single-minded in His service and to wait for His timing. I loved the way Leslie casts a vision for being fully satisfied in our relationship with Christ and putting Him above all else.

Announcements!

Check out the final stop on the Counted Worthy blog tour. Lisbeth of Dancing in His Reign wrote a delightful Counted Worthy Book Review.

Also, don’t forget to RSVP for the Counted Worthy Facebook launch party! We’ll be having a bunch of giveaways, including a “grand prize” set of books that includes Counted Worthy, Do Hard Things, and Start Here!

October 18, 2014

Book Review: The Runaway King

Back in January, I reviewed The False Prince, book one of the Ascendancy Trilogy. All three of the books are now on the market, and I enjoyed all of them. As I mentioned in my last review, if you enjoy The Ranger’s Apprentice series, you’ll certainly enjoy The Ascendancy Trilogy as well.

After reading other reviews, I expecting The Runaway King to be good, but not quite as good as The False Prince. In some ways that expectation was true, but in many ways it was not. The beginning of the book was good, but felt a bit too similar to the last one. After it got going, though, I forgot my concerns.

In fact, in some ways, I liked this book better than the last. Jaron is forced to make several emotionally difficult decisions and, in my opinion, he chooses well. He has more responsibility, or at least more obvious responsibility, in this book. In The False Prince, he really only had to worry about his own safety. In The Runaway King, he fights for the safety of his country, of a little girl attacked by thieves, and of his friends. He’s still not an impeccable role model, but there were some good morals in the story and I’m confident Jaron will be a good king.

If your an older reader looking for edge of your seat, heart in your throat reading, you might find yourself disappointed by this book. However, if you’re looking for a good, honest adventure tale, The Runaway King will deliver exactly what you’re looking for.

October 3, 2014June 5, 2020

Book Review: Among the Imposters

Luke looked with new eyes at the group sitting in front of him in the dark woods. They must all be illegal third children using forth identities. Luke’s heart gave a jump. AT last, he’d found others like him. He’d found a place to belong.

This series first captured my interest when I was thirteen. Six years later I still occasionally return to them as comfort reads. It’s rare to find books that were age appropriate as a tween an early teen that remain interesting years later.

Among the Impostors follows twelve year old Luke Garner, an illegal third child. After his only friend, another third child, dies, Luke is separated from his family and taken to hide in a boys school. There he meets other third children…but he’s not sure all of them are what they seem to be.

Can he discern friend from foe before the population police find him?

September 26, 2014June 5, 2020

Round-Up: 5 Favorite Self-Published Books

The world of self-published books keeps on growing, but it can be a scary place for readers to venture. There is a glut of poorly written, poorly edited, poorly designed self-published books. There are also plenty of gems hidden among their not-so-shiny counterpart. If you’ve been afraid to give self-published books a try, fear no longer. I put together this list of my five favorite self-published books so you can go right to the gems. You can find other self-published books I enjoyed on my self-published shelf on Goodreads.

The Abolitionist, by Elisabeth Allen
It took me quite a while to get into this book, and the format took a while to get used to as well. However, once I did get used to the way the book is set up, I loved it. It’s not high action or edge-of-your seat. Instead, the tension in this story comes from the need to chose. The main character is faced with injustice and scared of losing the approval of “society.” I appreciated the struggle she went through to try to make the right decision. If you’re in search of a calm book to read while cozied up next to a fire, give this one a try.

In His Image, by J. Grace Pennington
This is my newest self-published favorite. I’ve read both of the author’s previous books and can say that this is her best one yet. Which reminds me that I need to announce who gets to borrow the kindle copy from me. That would be you, Spencer R. Congratulations! I’ll email it to you this afternoon.

Before You Meet Prince Charming, by Sarah Mally
This also includes Grace Mally’s book, Will Our Generation Speak. I love both of them. I decided to put Sarah’s book on the list because I’ve had it longer and read it multiple times. Both books really spoke to me and taught me a lot.

Peter’s Angel, by Aubrey Hansen
The only thing that bothers me about this book is that I can’t figure out what genre it fits into. It’s a cross between historical and speculative. Great story, though. And great writing too. Unfortunately, it ends on a bit of a cliff hanger, and book two still isn’t out.

Tales of the Heartily Homeschooled, by Rachel Starr Thomson and Carolyn Currey
I’ve loved every book I’ve read by Rachel Starr Thomson. I decided to display this one just because it’s different from the rest. I had such a good time reading the hysterical stories in here. This book is the perfect Christmas present for a homeschool mom or friend.

Which one of these books appeals to you? Have you already read any of them? If you have, which is your favorite? Are there any self-published books you would add to the “gems” list?

September 19, 2014

Book Review: Hope Runs

Claire is a young American girl trying to find her place and purpose in the world. As she and a friend travel around the globe, they spend a night in a guest house attached to a Kenyan orphanage. As Claire asks God to show her what she’s supposed to learn from this place, she finds herself putting down roots and forming relationships with the children in the orphanage. One boy in particular catches her attention and, in time, her heart. Sammy lost his father to death and his mother to abandonment. He is one of the “lucky ones” because he was invited to a very good orphanage. Both Claire and Sammy find themselves on a journey of discovery and learning curves as they absorb one another’s cultures and find their way through life.

I noticed this book on the “New Arrivals” table at my library a few months ago and decided to grab it (it’s a book about an orphan published by a Christian company after all). Hope Runs isn’t a how-to on relief work, missions trips, or anything like that. It’s a personal story. A glimpse into two people’s lives. If you liked Kisses from Katie, you’ll probably enjoy this one too, even though there’s much less emphasis on the spiritual side of the experience. I personally enjoyed reading it. It was a nice break from the more serious orphan care books I often read.

September 11, 2014November 28, 2017

Book Review: In His Image

I looked at his face, for the first time feeling a sense of common humanity with him. Before I had subconsciously been thinking of the inhabitants as different from us, somehow not truly human, whatever their biological makeup might be. But that was wrong. This young man had a life just as real as mine; a heart, a mind, and emotions, as genuine as my own.

It’s so fun to see authors’ works improving as they continue to write. Several people told me that In His Image was way better than Radialloy and they were so right. I liked Radialloy, but it took me a while to get into it and I found it a little difficult to follow at times. No such problem here.

Andi and her adoptive father work the sickbay on board a space craft that searches for extra-terrestrial life. As Christians, neither Andi, her dad, or her cousin Crash believe in such a thing. After all, people are uniquely created in the image of God. Right? When the team experiences a rocky landing on an exploratory trip to a new planet, all of them are shocked to find themselves pulled into a colony of people. How did the civilization get there? Are they aliens or humans? And what should the crew of the Surveyor do about them?

The characterization in this books was fantastic. I could sense Andi being stretched and growing as a person. Elasson came to life even though he had limited dialogue due to speaking a different language. There were some tantalizing hints dropped about Crash’s past. Plus some pretty neat developments with August.

For those of you who might raise your eyebrows at the fictional discovery of extra-terrestrial life, it’s handled well. Promise. A totally Biblical worldview and explanation spiced with the age-old author game of, “What if?”

P.S. I read this on my kindle, therefore I can lend it to someone. Who wants to borrow the Kindle copy of this book? If you’d like to be considered, leave a comment saying so!

September 5, 2014

Book Review: Running a Micro Business

Taking another slight detour from the type of books I normally review here. Maybe this month’s theme should be “books that don’t fit the mold.” 🙂 I know that a lot of my readers have entrepreneurial minds. From book formatting to web design to Etsy shops, you find creative ways to make money. And maybe some of you who don’t currently run your own “Micro Business” would like to, you just don’t know how.

I would recommend this books (and it’s companion books) to any young person running or interested in running their own business. Here’s the review I wrote on Goodreads.

I picked this book up at a local homeschool conference. Because I have a bachelor’s degree in business, I figured most of it would be review but thought it might be a useful reference to have handy. I was right. It’s like having notes from my college classes in a simpler, more practically applicable form. Some of the information was a little over simplified for me, but for a teen or young adult just learning about business, it would be perfect. About half of this book focuses around proper record keeping, which is always dry, but at least in this book it’s understandable and concise. Anyone should be able to read through this book quickly and come away with a better understanding of how to run a micro-business.

I’ve been referencing Running a Micro Business and Money and Taxes in a Micro Business a lot as I work to publish Counted Worthy! As an added bonus, author Carol Topp has answered a couple questions I tweeted about her about taxes. Yay for friendly authors! 🙂

While we’re on the topic of businesses, how many of you are running entrepreneurial ventures? Share links to your websites, Etsy stores, etc. in the comments!

August 29, 2014

Book Review: The Chocolate Soldier

God’s summons today is to the young men and women of Great Britain and America and Christendom, who call themselves by the name of Christ.

The Chocolate Soldier is rather different from the books I normally review on this blog. It’s not a story, is only an estimated 17 pages in length. More of along essay than a book. However, I’m sure some of you, like me, appreciate a quick read sometimes. The Chocolate Soldier would be perfect for an extended devotional time.

I first heard C.T. Studd’s name five years ago when Eric Ludy came to speak at a homeschool conference. Mr. Ludy is a great admirer of C.T. Studd’s. Because of that endorsement, I quickly downloaded this short book when I found it for free on Amazon.

Studd wastes no time in getting to his point. He defines a “Chocolate Soldier” as a Christian who shrinks from the nitty-gritty of Christianity.

They are chocolate soldiers who merely go to see battles, and cooly urge others to fight them. They had better save their journey money and use it to send out real fighters instead.

Studd exhorts Christians to revive the heroism and determination exhibited by faithful men and women in the Bible.

Real Christians revel in desperate ventures for Christ, expecting from God great things and attempting the same with exhilaration.

Studd’s thought process and wording confused me a few times, but for the most part I enjoyed his whirlwind tour through heroes of the Bible. And the reminder not to be lukewarm is always beneficial. I think the message in The Chocolate Soldier would find a receptive and appreciative audience among many of you who read this blog.

Let me know if you check it out!