Every Day a Friday: How to be Happier 7 Days a Week by Joel Osteen

I was so excited to see that I'd be able to review this book when I got an email about it. At the time, I was so stressed with working from home and trying to take care of my child at the same time I felt like this would be a great book for me to read to gain a better perspective on life. When it finally came in the mail I was so excited, I couldn't wait to start reading it but like so many times life got in the way - now months later I was finally able to read this book.

This book had such great potential and a lot of really good points. Much of the book was great! There was so much in the book that was so practical...being content where you are, keeping a positive attitude at all times, finding a reason to laugh every day (for me - that's hanging out with my daughter), giving thanks for what you have. There were so many great thoughts.

I guess my main concern with this book is it seemed that the main message for each chapter was do "a" and God has promised to bless you, do "b" and God will bless you. I have no problem with the fact that God blesses people because I know that many times God is most glorified when true believers praise him and declare how God has blessed them, but I just felt that he really didn't have Scripture to back up what he was saying at times. My other concern was the book seemed to be so focused on how can this help me. Many of the things he kept saying were that God will bless you because you are so wonderful or whatever point he was trying to make, but there seemed to be little in most (not all) chapters that gave any indication that the reason we were made was not to bring glory to ourselves and so that we can live great lives, but so that God will be most glorified.

Sometimes we can be doing everything right and we can be happy and joyful, but we won't always see the blessings here on earth. That I guess was where I felt like this book was a little off. Much of our blessing won't come here on earth, but will come when we reach heaven.

Even though I have some concerns about the book, it really did help to either change my perspective or to reiterate that I'm on the right track. I would still recommend this book to someone who is struggling to believe that God is good and that you can be happy even when times are tough, but I'd probably have to tell them to read it with a grain of salt.

As I wrap this up, I did want to mention that I received this book for free from Faith Words in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give a positive review.

First Date by Krista McGee

When I saw that book was coming up for review on the BookSneeze program, I immediately wanted to read it. It just seemed like a really cute premise and sounded like it would be an enjoyable read - I was not disappointed.

This book is about Addy Davidson who is 1 of 100 girls that have been picked to go on a reality tv show to win a date with the President's son. Addy really doesn't want to be on the show, but is doing it for the sake of her Christian school. She starts out having a pretty bad attitude about the whole thing, but as the show goes along she realizes that her bad attitude is also a bad reflection of her walk with God. She decides to make the best of this opportunity while she can which totally changes her outlook.

The story was loosely based on the story of Esther, so it was neat to read this book and realize that this could be a modern day version of what it was like for Esther. It really made that story come alive to me too!

I really enjoyed reading this book although it is considered juvenile fiction - it definitely would be appropriate for that age group. It was a very quick and light read - in fact I read it all in one day! I was glad to see that this author will be having another book about one of the other characters in this book coming out in July 2012 and I'm hoping I'll be able to read that one as well.

In closing, I wanted to mention that I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review through the BookSneeze program. I was under no obligation to give it a positive one.

A Most Unsuitable Match by Stephanie Grace Whitson

Whenever I'm reading books that I'm reading to write a review I find myself constantly thinking about how am I going to review this book. What will I say? Is this book great the way it was written? Or do I find myself wanting to know more about something that was touched upon but not answered? This book was no exception. Thousands of thoughts flitted through my mind as I read this book in connection to writing this review. But like every other review when I finally pull out my computer to write the review I also find myself faltering with how to begin. I don't want to always start every book review the same way, but I want people to know what the book means to me.

I guess I'll begin by letting you know what this book was about and then move on to what I thought about the way it was written and how it affected my life.

The book starts out with Fannie Rousseau kneeling beside her mother's grave. She has recently become an orphan. While money seemed to be no option all of her life, she soon finds out that she is nearly destitute. Shortly after learning about this an intruder enteres the house and because of this, she searches through the house for all valuables so that she can put them in a safe place. While searching through her mother's room, she discovers a picture of an aunt that she has never even heard of along with letters written from that aunt. She becomes intrigued and when faced with the possibility of marrying someone she doesn't know so that she can maintain her privileged lifestyle, she impulsively runs away via steamboat to Montana to try to find this unknown aunt.

While on her journey west to find her aunt, she meets Samuel Beck who is also searching for someone as well - his sister Emma. The two become friends and join their search together (don't worry her elderly maid Hannah came along with her). As they embark on this journey so many unexpected things happen that draw them closer together and closer to God. That's just the book in a nutshell!

I found this book was really easy to get into and pulled me into the story - I love a mystery even if it is just to find out why Fannie had never heard of her aunt. There were a couple of things that bothered me about the book, nothing horrendous by any stretch of the imagination of course, just things I would have liked to have fleshed out more. Without giving too much of the story away, it seemed that some of the minor characters that I'm not even going to go into for sake of space became more major characters than the major characters at some points in the book. It also seemed to me that while the story seemed to be focusing on Fannie and Samuel and their feelings for each other the majority of the book didn't even mention it - towards the end it seemed like the book needed to be finished quickly and so it focused again on these feelings and quickly had a resolution that was somewhat unsatisfying. Those are my negatives, overall though I really did enjoy this book. While I didn't think it stayed on point in the middle I found that the middle to be very interesting it just made me want the story to have a different ending.

One of the biggest signs to me of a good book is identifying with the characters and in this case I really felt like I did. There was such good individual character development portrayed throughout this book. I don't normally quote portions of the book, but I really felt like this particular part really spoke to me spiritually especially with everything we've been going through lately (loss of job, looking for a job even if it means moving to a totally different location, etc.)

This takes place between Samuel and his friend Lamar:

Lamar talking to Samuel after reading the passage, "Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart."

"...why is it you seem to think the only time it's God's will is if it's hard - something you got to force yourself to do?...Now, I know - sometimes that's how things are, and then we just lean into the wind and trust the hand of God to keep us from blowing away. But it seems to me that when a man listens to God's voice as sincerely as you do, Sam...couldn't God be putting the desire...in your heart, too?" Personally this just really spoke to me. It seems that a lot of times we seem to think that God's will is only going to be something hard and difficult for us and not something that we will want. It was such an encouragement to read that and to realize that our God wants to give us the desires of our hearts when we are truly delighting in Him!!!

I don't want to digress too much, but needless to say this book really did speak to me and I do highly recommend it even though there were a few things that I would have liked to see differently in the book.

I want to mention in closing that I received this book in exchange for an honest review from Bethany House. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. If you would like to know more more about other books this author has written or just want to know more about the author herself check out her website here.

Promise Me This by Cathy Gohlke

Have you been looking for a book that you have trouble tearing yourself away from? Or have you been looking for a book that is a work of fiction, but ties together the fiction story with true life events? What about a book that you will feel like you are right there with the characters - sharing in their joys and their sorrows? Or maybe you've been looking for a book that will show you just how much God loved us and that His Son sacrified everything for us so that we could have eternal life? If any of these reasons resonates with you, then be sure to read this wonderfully written book by Cathy Gohlke.

I've always been fascinated with historical fiction. Some of my favorite events and time periods to read about are the Civil War, the sinking of the Titanic, World War I and World War II. This book doesn't touch on the Civil War or World War II, but it encaptures what life would have been like for the survivors of the Titanic all the way through World War I.

This book begins with Michael Dunnagan - a young boy, who has been badly mistreated - trying to escape from his current life situation. He boards the Titanic before it is even taking passengers and stows away until it ports in Southhampton where its journey is to begin. Once in Southhampton, he meets Owen Allen who is preparing to sail to America onboard the Titanic so that he can hopefully find a better place for him and his little sister Annie with relatives in New Jersey. Owen takes poor Michael under his wing and for the week he has remaining in Southhampton feeds him and gives him work. Annie remains in England until Owen has enough money to pay for her to come over to New Jersey.

Michael decides to once again flee his current situation and stows aboard the Titanic for a second time. Also for a second time he finds himself being rescued by Owen Allen. The two become like brothers in a short time and Owen feels the prompting of God to teach Michael everything he knows about plants and gardening which is what he was going over to America to help with. Since we all know the story of the Titanic, I'm sure you can imagine that this story isn't going to end well.

Owen sacrifices his life so that Michael can start his life over with Owen's family. Here we see the beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us! Owen makes Michael promise that he will save money and bring Annie over as soon as possible.

Without giving the whole book away - Michael works to bring Annie over, but many years pass before he is able to do so. This book shares the story of Michael learning to get over "survivors guilt" and Annie to stop blaming Michael for her beloved brother's death. They start to write to each other and it continues throughout World War I.

So much of this book really tugged at my heartstrings. It was just so beautifully written detailing the feelings that must have been going on for those that survived the sinking of the Titanic to the details of what it must have been like to live in Europe during World War I. I really felt like I was right there! I have not read a book that I enjoyed this much in a very long time! If you ever have the chance to read this book, I highly recommend that you grab a copy and read it. You will not be disappointed!

I'd never read any works by Cathy Gohlke, so you can imagine my surprise that this book was such a great read! I'm looking forward to reading more books from her. If you'd like to learn more about the author and other books that she has written or is planning on writing, you can visit her website here.

In closing, I did want to mention that I received this book for free for an honest review through Tyndale House Publishers, you can find out more information about them by clicking on this link. I was under no obligation to give a positive review, though I did absolutely love this book!

If you would like to read the first chapter of this book for yourself, you can click here.

The Wounded Heart by Adina Senft

  

 How many times have you had a difficult decision to make? One that you think may be the correct choice given your current life circumstances? Sometimes you have to make choices that you didn't think that you would ever need to make because life throws you a curveball - whether it is because of a job loss, or sickness, or loss of a loved one, sometimes all of these. Whatever the reasons, you have a choice to make - will you trust your own instincts or will you trust in God to guide you? And just like all of us that have had to make difficult decisions, we have the story of Amelia Beiler.

     Having lost her husband a year earlier, she is making ends meet for her and her two boys by taking over her husband's pallet making shop. While her hearts desire is to be at home and tend to the needs of the home like the majority of Amish women, she has had to change her lifestyle in order to survive. While working in a less than ideal situation for her, she starts to lose feeling in her hands and arms and decides to find out what is wrong with her. After multiple tests, she is diagnosed with MS and feels as if this is a life sentence of misery. Throughout the whole book, she seeks to understand why God would allow such a thing into her life, has not been through enough already? What is God's purpose and plan behind all of this? How will she take care of her boys? Should she sell her shop or should she just live with this diagnosis and the medicine that goes along with it?

    This story, while written from the perspective of an Amish woman rings true to so many of us that have had to deal with difficult situations. What a joy to read how this character did trust in God even though she didn't feel like it and that God provided in ways that she had not even imagined. What an encouragement! I really enjoyed reading this book and it was truly thought provoking to me to realize that in every situation God is working to bring good into our lives even when we can't see it. God is there for us every step of the way - even in the difficulty of losing my job in the middle of reading this book. It was such an encouragement to me to realize that God is in control even in the situations that are a complete surprise to us. God was not surprised and He does have a plan.

     I received this book for free from Faith Words a division of Hachette Book Group in exchange for an honest review. I was under no obligation to give it a positive review. I am disclosing this information in accordance to Federal Trade Commission's 16 CFR, Part 255.