Gravel Road Musings

 What a great book for this time in history. There was just so gold to be mined out of this book and so much I missed I'm sure. I would love to read this book again using the study guide so that I could learn more. Rosario doesn't beat around the bush. She tells it like it is even if she has to acknowledge areas where she has failed in, lies she has believed and needed to repent of. I find her faith in God and belief in His word and her ability to express those things refreshing and convicting.  The five lies she addressed in this book are: 1. Homosexuality is normal 2. Being a spiritual person is kinder than being a Biblical Christian 3. Feminism is good for the world and the church 4. Transgenderism is normal 5. Modesty is an outdated burden that serves male dominance and holds women back.  I wish somehow I could hang on to the way she's says things so that I could better express myself in challenging conversations.  "When we dispense with the wisdom of the creatio...

  Words almost fail me at the horror and beauty of this story. I knew little of Poland during World War II and to read of the almost complete destruction of Warsaw and its inhabitants is mind-blowing. I suppose this exposes my ignorance, but I cannot fathom the human mind that is capable of systematically killing off thousands and thousands of people. I know the stories of Hitler and Auschwitz and now Warsaw, but I still cannot imagine being one of the killers or living through the terror as a civilian, never knowing when you would be next on their list.  And yet, through this horror, the bravery and heart of Warsaw's citizens shines through. While Antonina and Helena are fictional characters, the organizations they represent were real and alive. Children were smuggled out of the ghetto and there really was an underground resistance that eventually came above ground. The bravery intermingled with the danger that constantly surrounded them is an incredible story to read.  ...

Once again, this book was from one of my favorite authors. I think I have read all the books that Valerie has written and I will continue to keep my eye out for new ones.  This book was so good. I'm not sure how to describe it, it was so very different from what you have expected from a well-to-do southern family in the early 1900's. They were a big family, six children, and had a good relationship with their employees. Considering that it wasn't that many years post-Civil War and their employees were mostly African-Americans, that seems unusual for that time period, but I loved it and I am sure there were real families that were like that as well.  A fun fact from the book is that the matriarch of the family shared my name, Aurelia. That is quite unusual and was kind of fun and weird at the same time. I rarely see my name anywhere and to read about it was a different experience.  Callie was also a fun character in the story and one who tried to defy convention as much as...

  Amanda Cox is one of those authors that I will read regardless of the plot line. She has such a good way of telling a story. "He Should Have Told the Bees" was no exception.  Callie and Beck are complete strangers to each other until they're not. They are thrown together by a trust that divides the land Beck lives on between the two of them. Why? is the question they are asking. Beck has never heard of Callie before and vice versa.  Both Callie and Beck have pretty deep emotional issues stemming from their childhood. The one had a neglectful mother and basically had to make it on her own from a very young age and the other had an absent mother and a dad who tried to protect her and make her world safe. This book is their story together and how they worked through their issues.  It was a heart-rending and yet a beautiful story--another fictional reminder of the real world we live in. Our world is broken--in so many ways the story of these girls is played out over an...

  Sad and hopeful all at once, this book delivers a bit of a punch. Let's just say, I didn't see the ending coming quite like it did and I'm a little sad that I don't know what happened to all the characters. The story mixes the joy of playing on the Workington Sweet Peas, all All-American girls baseball team with the sadness of being label a secret Communist in the US in the 1950s.  Forced out of their home after the dad, a well-known author, was accused of being a Communist, the family flees to Uncle Matthew's home. While there, Bertha lands a place on the baseball team, the Workington Sweet Peas, and life is looking up, until tragedy strikes..... I enjoyed the book. I could have done without the filler words and with a little more God in the book, but overall, it was a good, clean read. Flossie, Bertha's sister, was such a fun add-in. She had a 110% vivacious personality that made her chapters so fun to read.  I enjoyed the book-it was a balance of joy and so...

  The story opens with Lori returning home after a year in rehab following a car accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury and missing memories. She works hard to regain her former life, but as her memories return, things seem confusing and hard. What happened in those years she is missing in her memory? I'm not going to say more about the story; I don't want to give anything away, but you start to wonder pretty early on in the book, what actually happened. The story flips back and forth between Lori and her daughter, Avery.  This is a story of redemption, hope and healing. It is a story of grief and loss, a bit of rebellion, but a lot of love too. It's a story about faithfulness in the midst of unfaithfulness. All in all, it's a good book, and one that had me turning the pages as fast as I could to find out how everything came together in the end.  I really enjoyed this book and would be interested in reading more by Janine in the future. I received this boo...

  Lillian is raised by her "widowed" mother who wants Lillian to marry slightly above her station so as to secure a good future for both Lillian and her mother.  But then the unexpected happens and Lillian is left the inheritance of her father who has only just now died. She travels to Dawsonville where she is confronted with secrets and a whole new life. She is given community, family, friendships and acceptance, something she has never had before.  It was a fun light read, but I can't say I gained any huge inspiration from it. It was pretty fluffy. Of course, there was Jonah battling his own things and struggling to come to terms with the way his own life was turning out. So you know the end of all that, but on the way there there was some danger and some twists and turns in the plot which added to the story.  I received this book from Revell and was not required to write a positive review.  All opinions expressed are my own.