The Things Book Lovers Would Wish Someone Would Say to Them

How would you like it if your boss said that 'your job was to read today and you could read any book you want for the eight hours you are at work'? That is on the list of twenty things a book lover would love to hear said to them. Read the rest on Goodreads blog post 20 Things All Book Lovers Wish Someone Would Say to Them posted by Hayley Ingarashi.

Dewey the Cat-CBS Sunday Morning

Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke

Saving Amelie

Author: Cathy Gohlke

Published By: Tyndale House Publishers

Date Published: May 16th 2014

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction

Pages: 453

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: A/5

This is from my own personal library.

Summary:

On a trip to Germany with her adoptive father Rachel Kramer is told by her old friend Kristine that her SS officer husband Gerhardt Schlick sees their child Amelie as a disgrace and not worthy of life because she was born deaf. Kristine pleads with Rachel to Amelie back to America with her raise her as her own because Gehardt plans to have her murdered. Rachel once dated Gerhardt so knows how cruel he can be. When she starts searching her scientist father’s documents she realizes that her whole life was a lie and she was an experiment for the Third Reich and now they plan to complete their experiment. With Gerhardt and the rest of the S.S hunting Rachel down she finds herself being helped by unlikely allies.

My Thoughts:

I just love, love this book.  I have a book hangover today because I was up until two in the morning reading this book. I could not put Saving Amelie by Cathy Gohlke down.  Gohlke has gained a new fan. It was a fast-paced book that kept you on the edge of your seat. I also loved how she handled the faith issue. I felt she made the characters who were not believers more realistic in their faith journey by the ways they came to accept Christ. In the beginning, Gohlke glazed over the faith talk in the beginning of the book enough to let the readers know who the true believers were and who were not. She did not over kill the faith talks as some Christian writers do. She made them coming to Christ as non believers more realistic. Introducing the beloved German pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his book The Cost of Discipleship helped weaved Rachel and others faith journey into the storyline seamlessly. Gohlke did a fantastic job and I cannot wait to read more of her books and this is the reason I gave Saving Amelie five stars and a grade of A.  I loved it!

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: Talks about genocide and eugenics

Violence: insinuated beatings after the effect, insinuated gassing of innocent children

Her Brother’s Keeper by Beth Wiseman

Her Brother’s Keeper (An Amish Secrets Novel)

Author: Beth Wiseman

Published By: Thomas Nelson Publishing

Date Published: February 27th 2015

Genre: Christian Fiction, Amish

Pages: 300

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: C/3

This is from my personal library.

Summary:

A few years earlier, Charlotte Dolinsky’s brother Ethan left Texas and had found love with an Amish girl, named Hannah King. He told Charlotte he had joined the Amish community in Lancaster and was engaged to marry Hannah. Then last year he took his own life. Charlotte is determined to find out what caused her brother to take his own life and is certain that Hannah has the answers. Charlotte disguises herself as an Amish cousin of the King family and travels to Pennsylvania to find the answers she is seeking, believing the answers would give her peace, but her peace ends up coming from a source she didn’t even know she was looking for.

My Thoughts:

I liked this book, but something was lacking in it. I really could not tell if the author was trying to make this a romance or somewhat of a mystery. There was basically no romance going on. The reader knew who was interested in whom and who would up with whom. The mystery was what was Ethan dealing with mentally to make him take his own life at a time he should have been happy, but that story line was flat.  This book was mediocre in its story telling. If you are a Beth Wiseman fan and feel the need to read Her Brother’s Keeper go ahead, but if you have never read anything by Wiseman before do not make Her Brother’s Keeper your first read of hers; you will be disappointed.

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: Discussions about child abuse and suicide

Violence: None

All Caught Up

Today, I put up the final review of some of the books I read in 2015 and the years preceding. I didn't read a whole lot of books for pleasure in 2015 because I  had been reading mostly text books for my graduate classes, but I did get some books in that was for my pure enjoyment. The last review I posted for last year's books was Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers and I highly recommend that book to everyone.

Tomorrow, I will post a review for the first book I finished this year. Yesterday, I started reading a book from the list on My Library page.  This book is set in Germany during WWII. If you haven't checked out My Library yet, feel free to do so.  I hope that you are enjoying My Reading Rainbow. I will try to keep up with it a lot better than I have been. If you are interested in writing book reviews for my blog as a guest blogger, feel free to message me at Theresa A. Mullins-Poet/Writer and I will send you a blog post template to follow. Blogging reviews for books is just for enjoyment and not for any compensation so if this is something you would be interested doing as a hobby then message me.

I hope you all are enjoying the start of the new year and the new year is treating you alright. I will be back tomorrow with another book review.  Later!

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Redeeming Love

Author: Francine Rivers

Published By: Multnomah Books

Date Published: May 9th 2005 (first published November 1st 1991)

Genre: Christian Fiction, Historical Fiction, Christian Romance

Pages: 464

Recommended Age: Mature Adults

Read and Reviewed By: Me

Rating: A/5

This is from my own private library.

Summary:

This is retelling of the book Hosea in the Old Testament of the Holy bible.

Set in California’s gold country in 1850 Angel doesn’t trust anyone, especially men. She was sold into prostitution as a child and it’s the only skill she knows, she’s the best prostitute at the Pair-of-Dice. She meets Michael Hosea, a man after God’s own heart. God tells Michael to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally.  Angel agrees to marry him after she was beaten close to death by her Madam’s bodyguard. Her ice-cold heart fights against the love that God and Michael is offering her. Her heart slowly softens towards Michael and starts to love him, but with it comes feelings of being unworthy. She runs away a few times before she accepts the healing that can only come from the Lord.

My Thoughts:

I love, love this book. I deem it the best book I read of 2015. My pastor’s wife had me and others read this book for a women’s six week Bible study. After I read the prologue I practically threw it aside, thinking I could never read this book. Out of love for my fellow Sister-in-Christ I picked it back up and forced myself to read it, but once I made it past the harsh reality of the character’s childhood I could not put the book down. I read 464 pages within forty-eight hours.

I believe Rivers did a fantastic job recreating the story of Hosea. This is not an easy book to read.  It speaks of the harsh realities in this evil world that majority of us want to pretend is not happening (human trafficking, abuse, neglect, etc.), even me. This book is filled with a roller coaster ride of emotions. It’s also a spiritual journey that reader goes on with the heroine. The reader will read about God’s unwavering love, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. It’s a fantastic book to read with and discuss with your fellow sisters-in-Christ.

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: Some sex scenes

Violence: Rape of a child

Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus by Rifqa Bary

Hiding in the Light: Why I Risked Everything to Leave Islam and Follow Jesus

Author: Rifqa Bary

Published By: WaterBrook Press

Date Published: May 19th 2015 (first published May 5th 2015)

Genre: Autobiography, Memoirs

Pages: 226

Recommended Age: Adult

Read and Reviewed By: Theresa

Rating: B/4

This book is from my personal library.

Summary:

Rifqa Bary grew up in a devout Muslim family. When she was twelve she was invited to a Christian church by a schoolmate and decided to follow Jesus as her Lord and Savior. The next four years she desperately keeps her faith hidden from her family out of fear for her life. When she is sixteen her family discovers her secret and now she must flea for her life with the help of her Christian brothers and sisters. 

My Thoughts:

I enjoyed this reading this book. It was well written and I learned a lot about the Muslim faith, at least a branch of it that can be very cruel to the women in their lives. It saddens me the way Rifqaa’s parents treated her after her brother damaged her eye, considering her unclean. Then treating her as the criminal when a relative rapes her, whisking her off to the United States before their Muslim community knew she was the victim of rape and being shamed out of their community. It’s discussing how some religions and/or cultures treat their women but claim to be a holy righteous group. I am so thrilled that Rifqa accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior and escaped that horrible life her parents were making her live. She deserves some happiness in her life and I pray that Lord continues to bless her. She’s a remarkable woman to live through all she lived through and still lets the peace of Lord shine in her life.

I recommend this book to everyone, especially to the people who believe that all Muslims are peaceful people that love and respect their daughters. Not all of them are peaceful people who respect others beliefs. There are some sects of Muslims who will kill their own kin if they leave the Muslim faith. Rifqa Bary’s story was truly a testimony to Jesus. 

Parents:

Language: None

Adult Content: a rape scene of a young girl, threats of violence

Violence: a rape scene of a young girl