It Happens In A Book

100 WAYS TO LOVE YOUR HUSBAND by Lisa Jacobson reviewed by Jen This small book is a treasure. It is not intended to sit and read through, but it is wonderful to read a thought every day or two. Lisa Jacobson writes simple yet encouraging ideas to be a blessing to our husband. I appreciate the format and font: everything seems encouraging and not cluttered. One of my favorite pages: "Know that marriage is like a long, slow walk together. More a marathon than a sprint. So just keep walking. Together." Interspersed between the 100 tips are stories to help bring home some of the points. This book would be great for a newly married wife or someone like me married nearly 25 years. *I received a free copy of this book from the publisher (Revell) in exchange for an honest review.

Special Guest: my Grandma N! Unscripted by Davis Bunn    Can Danny Byrd overcome his past and amount to something?  Danny grew up in the foster care system. He had a very thick folder of the wrongs he had done. As an adult he is trying to get his life straightened out but ends up in jail.    Megan Pierce, a lawyer, has been hired by a different law firm than where she works to represent Danny in court.  Neither Megan or Danny know who the person is or why they wanted to spend their money on helping Danny.     Through many trials Danny learns to trust, let go and get rid of some of the hurts he has been carrying around most of his life.  He does this mostly through his relationship with Megan and his reaching out helping a teen with a big chip on her shoulder.    This book is worth reading although the ending leaves you hanging. I would definitely read another of David Bunn’s books or a sequel to this one. *I ...

Special Guest: my Grandma N! :) A Distance Too Grand by Regina Scott Meg Pero, a very self-sufficient woman, has helped her father with his photography since she was eight.  She had once turned down a marriage proposal from a West Point cadet thinking herself not refined enough to be the wife of a military officer.  When her father unexpectedly dies Meg is left with his camera equipment and very little money.  With no options left to her Meg sets out to fulfill her father’s contract with the army to be the photographer on a survey trip. Captain Ben Coleridge, a West Point Graduate, is leading the survey trip to the Grand Canyon to map a way around or through it for travelers.  Captain Coleridge’s father was Colonel at the base Ben is now stationed out of.  Colonel Coleridge never returned to base after he and a guide set out to look at the Grand Canyon.  Can the Captain allow the girl he once wanted to marry join his group as photographer?  Capta...

One More River To Cross by Jane Kirkpatrick    In 1844, two years before the Donner Party, the Stevens-Murphy company left Missouri to be the first wagons into California through the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Mostly Irish Catholics, the party sought religious freedom and education in the mission-dominated land and enjoyed a safe journey--until October, when a heavy snowstorm forced difficult decisions. The first of many for young Mary Sullivan, newlywed Sarah Montgomery, the widow Ellen Murphy, and her pregnant sister-in-law Maolisa.    When the party separates in three directions, each risks losing those they loved and faces the prospect of learning that adversity can destroy or redefine. Two women and four men go overland around Lake Tahoe, three men stay to guard the heaviest wagons--and the rest of the party, including eight women and seventeen children, huddle in a makeshift cabin at the headwaters of the Yuba River waiting for rescue . . . or their deaths. ...

Love Changes Everything by Micah Berteau    We all crave love. We try to fill the void inside with any number of poor substitutes. We seek validation from empty outlets. We're thirsty for compliments. We change who we are to impress people who aren't looking and don't care. Yet, we are still desperately searching for a love that changes everything for us, a love that doesn't fade and doesn't fail--even when we do.    That's the kind of love God shows that he has for us through the remarkable story of Hosea and Gomer. Unpacking this powerful love story from the Old Testament in a way you have never heard, pastor Micah Berteau releases us from the fears, hurts, insecurities, and anxieties of life by showing us just how extravagantly we are loved--in spite of our faults, our failures, and our sins. If you're tired of trying so hard to be worthy of someone else's love, lost in what's fake, or drawn to live in the temporary, Micah Berteau has good ne...