April Reads

 I'm trying something new - instead of a blog post for each book, I will simply recap the best books of the month here and add to it as the month goes along. And for whatever reason, I cannot get pictures to download for most of the books. 

Messy Truth

by Caleb Kaltenbach

Buy the book!  That's about the best review I can give it. This book challenged me so much on how I do life. Truth gets messy when it starts involving people because it can be hard to distinguish between truth and our emotional attachments. So we run in fear. That prevents us from having the hard conversations and puts the focus on us. What should we be asking is who will engage if I don't? And what really is at stake? People are at stake and that is sobering. 

Two questions Caleb asked that stuck with me. It's easy to drift with those who agree with us and ostracize the rest. Before we do that, we need to ask ourselves these two questions: Who created them? Who died for this person?" It really made me stop and think. about how I treat people.

While this book is geared heavily toward relating to the LGBTQ community and loving them well while standing on your own theological convictions, I was extremely challenged to love the people in my own church better, especially those that I don't see eye to eye with.

I was really blessed and challenged in reading this book and am planning to buy a paperback copy so that I can read it again more easily. 

I received this book from Waterbrook via NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review. 

Code of Courage

by Janice Cantore

LaRosa is a hotbed of anti-police riots and violence. The mayor and prosecutor only call them protests and restrict the police from doing anything about them. And yet, people are dying and the police are being blamed and fired even when they obviously did not kill the victims. What is going on? That is what Danni Grace and her team need to figure out. Meanwhile Gabe Fox stumbles onto an old cold case that appears to have been intentionally tampered with. And how do the two relate? Well, you have to read the book to find out, but I will tell you this that Gabe and Danni were once married, but because of a rather fearful idea, they are now divorced. 

The story is fast-paced and attention-holding. I enjoyed watching as headways were made on both cases and on Danni and Gabe's relationship with God and with each other. 

"Don't try to understand my faith. Grow your own. You won't regret it."

I really enjoyed this book as I have enjoyed the others I have read by Janice Cantore. 

I received this book from Tyndale House via NetGalley and am not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

Night Bird Calling

by Cathy Gohlke

I seem to be on a theme with domestic abuse lately. I hardly ever read books with this theme and I think this is the second or third one and the one I'm currently reading also has that theme. This is your trigger warning for that and rape, KKK and racial violence. 

Lilliana runs away from her abusive husband after she overhears a conversation between him and her father and realize they have a plan to have her committed to an institution as mentally unstable so that her husband can secure an approved divorce from the church. She runs to the town of No Creek to the home of her great aunt Hyacinth.

While there, she discovers a backbone and a cause to get behind and support. No Creek is very racially segregated, the KKK is very much alive and everyone moves with caution, especially the black population. 

You just have to love Lilliana and Aunt Hyacinth and, of course, Celia Percy, who thinks she is quite a bit older than her 12 years of age and is a real spitfire. So many wonderful characters.

"Gifts for the baby. Gifts for the family. Gifts of love poured over strangers and friends alike this Christmas Eve - another suture, Celia figured in No Creek's deep wounds." 

I received this book from Tyndale Houe via Net Galley and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

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A Hundred Crickets Singing

by Cathy Gohlke

This book both takes off where Night Bird Calling left off, but also goes back another 80 years. On one side we follow Celia Percy, at 14 years old now and during World War II, as she discovers a hidden room and a big secret and on the other side we follow Minnie Belvidere during the Civil War. 

The Belvidere's owned slaves with the intent to free them and give them land. Though they were freed, the land was never given to them due to some very unfortunate circumstances. The youngest son ended up inheriting the Belvidere property and he was not friendly toward the colored people even though they were officially freed through the Emancipation Proclamation. 

Jump ahead 80 years until World War II and you see that inequality is still rampant in No Creek and not just there. Marshall, a colored man, and Joe, an Italian man both face more than their share of racial slurs, Marshall's being much, much worse. 

Celia and her friends work hard to break down the racial divide in No Creek and while they make headways, there is still much progress to be made. 

This book broke my heart to read of the unfairness of life in the South for colored people. Living in the rural North, we don't see that much of it here and yet I was confronted with my own prejudice against other groups that aren't like me. It has opened my eyes and hopefully my compassion to see each person as God created them: precious humans in His eyes. 

I received this book from Tyndale House via NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own. 

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Create Anyway

The Joy of Pursuing Creativity in the Margins of Motherhood

by Ashlee Gadd

I picked this book up to read because I have listened to a lot of Coffee and Crumbs podcasts and have read some of their essays and I feel like I almost know Ashlee. Not that I would ever walk up to her and initiate a conversation, but if I would see her in a crown and recognize her (I would more likely recognize her by her voice) that I would stare a bit and wish I had the courage to say hi, but would be entirely to introverted to follow through with that idea. 

Anyway, moving on to the actual book--I loved the book. It was so good. Ashlee did a good job of showing how to combine mothering and creativity even writing her notes for this book on index cards beside the tub. Mothering and creativity are not mutually exclusive--combined together they create beauty. It doesn't have to be something big, it doesn't have to be something that pays money, it just needs to be something that speaks to my soul. 

Ashlee says God didn't create us to be mere spectators. He is the author of creativity and He gave us a beautiful world to explore.

"But motherhood is messy, and raw, and nuanced, and requires things a baby registry could never provide: surrender, and trust, and dependence on the Lord Almighty to fuel you with grace, with perseverance, with steadfast love, with a sacrificial willingness to get up the next morning with your eyes half-shut and do it all over again."

"A scarcity mentality cultivates an ungrateful heart, and ultimately, questions the goodness, sufficiency, and generosity of our Father." 

It's definitely a book I want to reread and gift to my creative-minded friends who are making mothering and creativity hand-in-hand. 

I received this book from Bethany House and was not required to write a positive review. 

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Passport to Heaven

The True Story of a Zealous Mormon Missionary who Discovers the Jesus He never Knew

by Micah Wilder

Micah was an on fire passionate Mormon missionary who planned to make a name for himself. And then an encounter with two Christian pastors, one of which encouraged Micah to read the New Testament like a child, and everything changed for Micah. Over the next year-and-a-half he read and re-read the New Testament and came to know Jesus as his personal Savior.

I would have to read the book again more slowly to decipher it all, but it seems to be Biblically sound and also a really good taste for what Mormons believe and how to counteract it. I really enjoyed reading that part as well. Today, most of Micah's family have become Christians.

One sad note from the book was that the Christians that the missionaries were witnessing to were not known for their kindness. It was rare for a Christian to extend kindness and love when the Mormons knocked on their door. 

"But you don't show your love for Jesus by reaching your hands up toward heaven, but by reaching your heart out toward others in love."

"Don't make Jesus part of your testimony. Make Jesus Himself your testimony."

I really enjoyed the book and would highly recommend it, especially if you have any interest in understand Mormonism better and how to counteract it with the Bible. 

I received this book from Harvest House via NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review. 

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The Orchard House by Heidi Chiavaroli

Oh my! What a story! The Orchard House is a dual timeline story. Johanna is a friend of Louisa May Alcott's who worked for Louisa and her family at the Orchard House and Taylor is the current day main character who has been adopted by the Bennett's, grew up close to The Orchard House, and has struggled with feeling like she belonged anywhere. 

Taylor and Victoria were best friends who became sisters and stayed best friends until betrayal sent Taylor running. Now, 16 years later, she has been summoned back to Concord and she is unsure what she will find there. 

I don't want to give away more of a spoiler, so let's just say that Taylor learns a lot of important lessons, as does Victoria and some of these lessons come as they study the life of this fictional character of Johanna. They learn lessons about forgiveness, family, and most of all faith in God. 

It should be noted that there are elements of domestic abuse that are portrayed in this story and while not terribly graphic, it is there and the pain is real.

I like the insights it gave into Louisa May Alcott's life, including actual quotes from her at the start of every chapter. It makes me want to go read Little Women and the other books that go with it. 

"I am talking about a bigger place to belong - in the arms of One who not only tells me not to fear, but who, in the midst of my failures, has loved me and given me a worth beyond measure. In this, I find both liberty and home - two things I thought were opposites, but now I see are not so very different." from Johanna's side of the story. 

I loved this book. I received this book from Tyndale via NetGalley and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions are my own. 

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