Christian Shelves

I admit that it's been a while since I've read a Christian YA book, but am I ever thankful that Ashley Al Saliby reached out and let me know about her most recent book, My Refuge: Four Girls from Around the World, Imprisoned by Circumstances but Pursued by Hope , the first in the Follow in the Dark series. Not only is the cover stunning, but I am so touched by the ministry possibilities behind this book. I am grateful to the author for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Book Synopsis Christian fiction for teen girls learning to follow Jesus in a broken world. Four girls face the hardships of isolation in remote corners of the planet. Their journeys will be messy, of course. One of them will struggle with growing anger, and another with crippling anxiety. One will drift toward despair. Another will battle surprising temptation. While facing challenges they wouldn’t have chosen, what refuge can they seek? What hope can they cling to? No...

This book is another one of those cases where I'm not sure why I felt prompted to pick it up, but I'm grateful that I did. Made Well: Finding Wholeness in the Everyday Sacred Moments  by Jenny Simmons is a memoir that came at just the right time in my life. What's even lovelier is that I knew of the band that she was in, but that I didn't associate her name with it until many chapters into the book. Book Synopsis Finding Wholeness through Tears, Joys, and the Everyday From the woman fighting cancer to the man who has lost his child to the girl sinking into depression, so many of us are engaged in daily battles as we long for healing. When he walked the earth, Jesus said to an unwell man, "Do you want to be made well?" His invitation stretched beyond physical healing--he sought to restore the soul. The same invitation stands for us today. For anyone struggling on the journey toward wholeness, singer/songwriter Jenny Simmons offers a resting place and a friend a...

Inspired by a post I shared earlier this year regarding the ratio of male to female Christian authors , I was grateful that a male Christian author, Tim Bishop , reached out to me to see if I would be interested in reviewing his book called The Persistent Road . I'm so glad that I had the opportunity to hear about this title as I wouldn't have come across it otherwise. As such, I am grateful to the author for providing me with a complimentary copy of this book. All opinions are my own. Book Synopsis There’s always an escape. Sometimes you need to search long and hard for the right one. After losing all he once cherished, Doug Zimmer follows his wife’s parting bread crumbs and rides up the Pacific coast—on a bicycle. Armed with a revolver and only a vague plan to get through the months ahead, he aims to end his depression one way or the other. As spiritual forces wrangle for his soul, he pedals eastward across America. He meets Lauren Baumgartner—a younger adventurer with a vibr...

The accuracy of ratings is something I've been thinking about for some time as I've finally started adding to my bookshelves on  Goodreads ; it's still an ongoing task! This project has taken me longer than expected, especially as Goodreads doesn't allow for half stars, whereas I have that option on  LibraryThing . As I've added books, I've had to take my best guess on which direction I should move – up or down. In the midst of this process, I started wondering if my ratings were fully accurate as to how I might rate books today. I realized that these ratings serve as more of a snapshot in time than a complete representation of the book's content. This led me to ponder the following things: How often should I change ratings? Is it okay that I change them? What if I can't when it's in a static format (e.g. image)? Has my criteria for rating books changed over time? When I receive new information that affects how I look at a book, should I reread it to...

In the spirit of university students taking a Reading Week this week, I'll be taking a short break from blogging and posting content. Not only do I have my own reading to do for work, I also want to catch up on some ARCs and books that have patiently been waiting for me. Here's a fun fact I learnt when I looked into Reading Week a bit more: "For post-secondary institutions in anglophone Canada, it is common to have "reading week" or "mid-term break" during the third week of February, coinciding with Family Day." Source: Revision Week I'm happy that I can have my own Reading Week! I'd love to do this more often, although it might lose its meaning if I turned every week into one 😂

If you're looking for a book that evaluates social justice from the lens of the Bible, I heartily recommend Why Social Justice Is Not Biblical Justice: An Urgent Appeal to Fellow Christians in a Time of Social Crisis by Scott David Allen. It's an outstanding look at how Christians can better understand the origins of the social justice movement and its ideology while comparing it to God's heart for the nations, His definition of justice as found in Scripture, and what it means for Christians to care for the least of these ( Matthew 25:31-46 ). I love that this book isn't afraid to examine critical race theory and critical social theory and get into the weeds of explaining the differences between communitive justice and distributive justice, amongst other terminology and concepts. The author does an excellent job of highlighting why regarding humanity through the sole lens of a power struggle between oppressor and oppressed is ultimately destructive, and how Christians ...

Essentially, I'm doing a bit of a do-over with my book choices for  The Well-Read Reading Challenge  this year, which prompted me to find a debut book from some newer-to-me authors. As soon as I read the premise for The Isaac Project by Sarah Monzon , I was hooked! A modern day Isaac and Rebekah story? Faithful commitment to Christ and each other within an arranged marriage? Count me in! Book Synopsis Becky Sawyer’s life unravels in a single day. Not only does she catch her boyfriend, the man she hoped to marry, lip-locked with another woman, she also receives the gut-wrenching news that her grandfather, the man who raised her, is dying. His last wish? To see her happily married. Heartbroken, Becky seeks inspiration in the pages of the Holy Scriptures. And finds it in the story of Isaac and Rebekah. If love couldn't keep his parents together, Luke Masterson wonders what will make a marriage last. He decides to steer clear of all women—especially crazy ones like Becky Sawyer, ...