What I've been reading

Every summer growing up, my family traveled to Northern California for our summer vacation. That meant a good fifteen hours riding in our humble family motorhome up to the lakes we visited every year. Which for me, meant I would check out a huge stack of books from the library and end up reading them all on the way up... It's safe to say that I've always been a reader. I just love sharing the books I'm reading with you, but I'm going to try to streamline my book reviews here on the blog so as to not bombard your inbox with too many review posts. Some of these will be books I received for the purpose of reviewing, and others will be just ones I picked up and want to tell you about. (And please note the affiliate links here.)

Currently...

True Woman 101: Divine Design

In my last post, I mentioned my summer women's study, but I forgot to mention the name-- oops! So this is it-- True Woman 101: Divine Design --a book about Biblical womanhood and on defining genders as God designed it. It's been a great read/study so far.

I love the question/journal format and it has already spurned some great conversations in our small group. The combination of this with the inductive Bible study we've been doing is proving really fruitful already.

One of the great things about this book is that it is written by two very different women -- one is a wife and mom and one is a single woman-- who both love the Lord and have a passion for ministering to women about God's design for them.

Dad is Fat

I happened to catch a glimpse of this book online before Father's Day and knew instantly that it would make a perfect gift for David. Not only is David inching his way towards becoming a reader (what's next-- coffee?!), but he loves Jim Gaffigan's comedy, and well, he's a dad, so parenting humor would not be lost on him.

As I stated when I instagrammed a photo of the book, I couldn't wait to read it myself, and even reading just the jacket flap, "about the author" and acknowledgements proved funny. Instead of David reading it on his own, I suggested he read it to me and it has become a fun thing for us to laugh over together.

This barely scratches the surface of what I'm currently reading in bits here and there. I try to keep my GoodReads account up-to-date with what I'm reading, since as you know I read many books at once. It helps me keep track and when one book starts collecting dust on my nightstand, it reminds me to jump back in. :)

Recently...

Undeniably Yours

 I love watching a good romantic comedy, and reading this novel was reminiscent of that... maybe it was the cowboy storyline or Meg and Bo's unfriendly meet-cute (love it when stories start like that). I loved the storyline, the romance and the spiritual journeys of the characters.

Undeniably Yours was a fun read-- a perfect light summer novel to dive into and finish in just a few sittings, and yet my mind kept going back to the characters for days afterwards. I felt like I had gotten to know them, was invested in their stories and their relationships, which I can't help but think is a great compliment to author Becky Wade. Good thing she labels this as A Porter Family Novel #1-- hopefully that means there are more on the horizon?

Thanks to Liftfuse for the review copy!

The Promise Box

 I received this book out of the blue, directly from the publisher, but I was glad to check it out because I've always enjoyed reading Tricia Goyer's works in the past. I wouldn't call myself a fan of Amish fiction per se, but so far in my experience they've always proved to be an interesting cultural study amidst a sweet love story.

The Promise Box seemed a little less realistic than some other novels I've read lately, but hey, that's okay. Fiction is supposed to be a little escape from reality, right? The heart journey of main character Lydia, is deep and heartfelt though, and I suppose if she wants to make huge, life-changing decisions in a very short time, that's her prerogative! :)

All in all, another fun fiction read. Thanks, Zondervan for sending me the book to review.

Bread & Wine

You've probably heard about this book by now, but boy did it speak my language. The subtitle of Bread & Wine says it all: a love letter to life around the table with recipes. Yes, please.

I loved stepping into the world of author Shauna Niequist as she told stories of table conversations and wove tales of how various dishes were loved and enjoyed by her family and friends.

The memoir is quickly becoming one of my favorite genres to read, especially food memoirs complete with recipes. Bread & Wine made me want to write, cook, eat and hug my girlfriends. It's a beautiful book full of stories of community and fellowship, and every recipe I've made so far has been a hit. I'm sure I will read it again and again, and it's quite possible I will cook every recipe in it (I'm serious, I loved it a lot).

Thanks to Booksneeze for the review copy!

What are you reading this summer?