Seek and Explore Devotions for Kids: 365 Days of Hands-On Activities 

Paperback  

January 1, 2019

by Yvonne E. Van Ee (Author), Michael James Williams (Author)

• Age Range: 6 - 10 years
• Grade Level: 1 - 5
• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Zonderkidz
• ISBN-13: 978-0310760344

The Seek and Explore Book of Devotions is a full-color, interactive journey through every book of the Bible—365 days (plus one for leap day!) of reading and hands-on activities, like journaling, crosswords, word searches, puzzles, and more. During each week, your child will learn about one or two books of the Bible in short, easy-to-handle activities. Whether reading, writing, drawing, crafting, moving, or going out into the world, kids will learn about the Bible, God, and themselves. By the end of this interactive journey, your child will have a better understanding of the Bible as the story of God’s people and his love for them. Perfect for a child to use on his own, as a family, in a classroom, or even in a Sunday school setting, this devotional is unique and engaging for ages 6–10.

My thoughts:  SEEK AND EXPLORE DEVOTIONS FOR KIDS is a fun and engaging devotional that will be great for even early teens and tweens. Unless your six year old is quite advanced, this book would be overwhelming.  I like  the devotions and the way the  puzzles tie into them. I think this would be great for   homeschoolers, Sunday school classes, children's church, and more.  There are writing assignments, artwork, word puzzles, action, and more.

Recommend for individual use or group settings, kids will love this.

I was given a copy free. All opinions are my own.

  

Brick Builder's Illustrated Bible: Over 35 Bible stories for kids

by 

Emily Dammer,

 

Antony Evans (Illustrations)

• Age Range: 6 - 10 years
• Grade Level: 1 - 5
• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Zonderkidz 
• (December 4, 2018)
• ISBN-13: 978-0310754374

The Brick Builder’s Illustrated Bible uses the popularity of brick-building pieces to engage children with the Word of God. With bold, colorful illustrations by Antony Evans and child-friendly text, over 35 beloved stories from the Old and New Testaments come to life. Readers will travel from Genesis to Revelation as they read stories like Creation, Noah’s Ark, David and Goliath, the Birth of Jesus, and Jesus Walks on Water. And each story contains a “Building Block” takeaway for kids to help them apply the biblical principal to their own lives. What better way to bring the family together than with the Brick Builder’s Illustrated Bible, perfect for readers of all ages. 

My thoughts: The BRICK BUILDERS ILLUSTRATED BIBLE is a Bible-based storybook using popular building bricks (such as Lego) to illustrate it.  There are twenty-one stories set in the New Testament (mostly about Jesus) and fifteen set in the Old Testament (mostly Genesis).  

The stories are very simply told and some of the color combinations make it hard for older eyes to read. This book has a hard cover, a gift   page and the pages are stiff which might make  it difficult for children to tear.  I don't like the smudging of biblical facts, and  some of the building brick  people are scary looking.  

Great for fans of children's  building bricks.  

I was given a  copy free. All opinions are my own.

A Christmas Haven: An Amish Christmas Romance 

Hardcover – ebook

September 24, 2019

by Cindy Woodsmall (Author), Erin Woodsmall (Author)

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook 
• ISBN-13: 978-0525653295

For fans of holiday romances and Amish life comes a new Christmas tale of surprising expectations and discovering miracles.

Old Order Amish Ivy Zook is wrestling with her need to shed her community's ways so she can grow the business of her dreams: planning parties. As long as she's stuck living without modernization, she can barely get her business on its feet. But if she leaves too soon, she'd cause trouble for her sister, Holly, who is planning her wedding to Joshua Smucker. All of their plans become twice as complicated when an old car crashes into the storefront of Greene's Pharmacy, carrying a Swartzentruber (ultra-conservative sect) Amish man, Arlan, and his very ill sister. 

The Zooks take in Arlan and Madga, tending to the woman's illness and Arlan begins helping around the family farm. Ivy and Arlan are on different tracks, one wanting to leave her community and the other to return to his. But both young people are trying to discover what God has in store for their futures and what miracles might lie around the corner this Christmas season.

Available for preorder!

My thoughts:  A CHRISTMAS HAVEN is kind of a sequel to The Amish Remedy and readers will want to read them in order to get Holly and  Josh's story - and the pharmacy.  

I enjoyed getting to know Ivy and Arlan and hope for a future story about Red and Magda.

A CHRISTMAS HAVEN is  heartbreaking with the way Arlan and Magda were treated and I was so glad Arlan had compassion for his sister and got her much-needed help. I also loved the family dynamics of Ivy's family with their  closeness  and sense of  humor.

Cindy Woodsmall is one of my top three favorite Amish authors and I especially love her Christmas novellas. They've become a holiday tradition.

If you love Amish romance Christmas novellas, you will  want to read  A  CHRISTMAS HAVEN.

I was given a copy free. All opinions are my own. 

A Potpouri of Help

A Potpourri of Help

Sometimes, there are no words to say. Especially when life blindsides you with one hit right after another.

So let’s take a moment to consider the help God is offering:

Bring the difficulties to God.  – Exodus 18:19

When all things seem against us, to drive us to despair,

We know one gate is open,

One ear will hear our prayer.

There is a praying in detail to be done.

-- J. Oswald Sanders

Never forget the nearness of your Lord. Don’t worry over anything whatever, tell God every detail.   – Philippians 4:5-6

Our God is a God who not merely restores, but takes up our mistakes and follies into His plan for us and brings good out of them. This is part of the wonder of His gracious sovereignty. – J. J. Packer

Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers that cannot be refused. – Charles H. Spurgeon

The Express Bride 

(Daughters of the Mayflower #9) 

Paperback – ebook

July 1, 2019

by Kimberley Woodhouse

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Barbour Books
• ISBN-13: 978-1643520636

The Wilderness Is a Great Place to Hide

Jacqueline Rivers manages a Pony Express station in 1860 Utah territory after her father’s death. There are daily stresses placed on her in this unconventional role—and now a government official is asking her to sniff out counterfeiters. When Elijah Johnson passes through on the stage while on an exhausting quest to find his boss’s heir, he doesn’t want to leave the beguiling station manager. In fact, he may never leave when caught in the crossfire of the territory’s criminal activities. Jackie can’t decide if Elijah is friend or foe. Can she remain strong when secrets of the past and present are finally unearthed?

Join the adventure as the Daughters of the Mayflower series continues with The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse.

More in the Daughters of the Mayflower series:
The Mayflower Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1620 Atlantic Ocean (February 2018)
The Pirate Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1725 New Orleans (April 2018)
The Captured Bride by Michelle Griep – set 1760 during the French and Indian War (June 2018)
The Patriot Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1774 Philadelphia (August 2018)​
The Cumberland Bride by Shannon McNear – set 1794 on the Wilderness Road (October 2018)
The Liberty Bride by MaryLu Tyndall – set 1814 Baltimore (December 2018)
The Alamo Bride by Kathleen Y’Barbo – set 1836 Texas (February 2019)
The Golden Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1849 San Francisco (April 2019)
The Express Bride by Kimberley Woodhouse – set 1860 Utah territory (July 2019)

My thoughts (by  guest reviewer Marilyn Ridgway):   

This book brought to life the days when The Pony Express was active in our American history. It is 1860 with Jacqueline (aka Jack) Rivers running the Carson Sink Station in Utah Territory, after her father died. She grew up there so was very capable and loved her “adopted brother” and the young Pony Express boys who was part of her station. The stage stop brought two men to Carson Sink with each one requesting assistance or information from Jack. She was glad to assist but sure would have preferred that her dad, Marshall Rivers, was still living. There are multiple layers to this story with the forgery of treasury notes being circulated among the stations, a request to find the lost daughter of Charles Vines, a millionaire in Kansas City and the daily happenings at a Pony Express Station with the documentation and quickness of exchanging horses and riders.

The Express Bride is truly a wonderful read depicting our historical era of the Pony Express, challenges faced in solving a forgery scandal, locating a missing daughter, romance and an underlying Christian message. I appreciated the way the author interwove the characters’ Bible Study of Scriptures into the story with scriptures being cited. This book can easily be read as a standalone, even though it is book nine in The Daughters of the Mayflower series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Barbour Publishing and was under no obligation to post a review. All thoughts expressed are my own.

 

No Greater Love

 (Shadows Over Whitman #1) 

Paperback – ebook

April 29, 2019

by Gina Holder (Author)

• Paperback: 341 pages
• Publisher: Independently published
• ISBN-13: 978-1797959580

One Book Changed Her Life…and Her Eternity

He said he’d never risk leaving a widow.
She said she’d never love a man in uniform.

Paige McDonald collects antique literature and works at the largest bookstore in Portland, Oregon. When her grandfather, a firefighter, was killed, she vowed never to fall in love with a first responder. An old Bible leads to an unexpected discovery and disrupts everything she knows about herself, her family, and God. Her desire to know the truth sends her to the town of Whitman directly into the radar of Patrol Officer Hamilton Bryant.

After the loss of his best friend and fellow officer, Hamilton vowed never to marry. He won’t risk leaving a widow. Instead, he reserves his passion for serving his family and the town he’s sworn to protect. When a series of robberies and threats against the mayor correspond with Paige’s sudden appearance in Whitman, their paths intersect.

My thoughts (reviewed by guest blogger Marilyn Ridgway):  Gina Holder has written a spellbinding story that will keep you up to see what is going to happen. Paige arrival in Whitman, Oregon was not her radar but she longer for her inner self to know the truth of who she was. Officer Hamilton Bryant was a focused career man to protect Whitman. Their paths crossed numerous times but not without some attraction. Their life’s goal did not match this attraction but an unusual increase of crimes in Whitman changed that. There are secondary characters that had a major role in the twists and turns that left questions who is behind the crimes and for what purpose were they trying to destroy lives and careers. There’s a gentle Christian message woven into this suspenseful romance tale of God's amazing love for each one, no matter what their life may have been.

Fans of contemporary romantic suspense will not want to miss reading No Greater Love, book one in Holder’s new series Shadows Over Whitman. I look forward to reading more books by Gina Holder in the future.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author and publisher for her tour with Celebrate Lit. I was not required to write a positive review, but have shared my own thoughts.

Hearing God: Eliminate Myths. Encounter Meaning.

Hearing God: Eliminate Myths. Encounter Meaning. 

Paperback – ebook -- audio

June 11, 2019

by Nathan Finochio (Author)

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: WaterBrook 
• ISBN-13: 978-0735291713

Hillsong New York City pastor identifies and deconstructs the most common myths about how God communicates - and then provides clear tools to accurately decipher and follow the voice of God in your life.

So many people wish that God would audibly weigh in on life's greatest questions of calling, meaning, and purpose. What's crazy is that God is weighing in on those questions. We just haven't learned to listen. Nathan Finochio believes that God is constantly communicating with this world he's created. We simply aren't following the right advice when it comes to hearing what he has to say. Through biblical teaching and true life stories, Hearing God empowers and enables readers to separate fact from fiction, myth from meaning, and truly understand what God is saying to them about big decisions and daily living.

My thoughts:  HEARING GOD is written by the teaching  pastor at Hillsong in NYC and the book is conversationally written. We all  long to hear from God, to have clear direction and leading, but how do we get it?

Pastor Finochio makes several good points and you might glean something from reading. Such as, God does speak from a  variety of venues. He is the God of burning bushes and fiery clouds after all. But scripture is taken out of context and twisted to fit the point that Finochio is trying to make.  As such, I cannot claim it  is altogether biblically sound but it should appeal to mainstream believers are possibly are not  as conservative in their beliefs. Whatever works, you know?

It is worth  reading though and you will gleam some truths.

I was given a  copy free. All  opinions are my own.