Fall Bookshelf: Two Reviews

We've all seen the social media shares on the recent undercover videos of Planned Parenthood employees discussing different abortion procedures, tissue procuring and sales. While it's atrocious and important for us not to turn a blind eye, I also realize different people are led to the truth in different ways. 

Abby Johnson was a beautiful young woman desiring to help other women when she first happened upon a Planned Parenthood booth at a college health fair. This book chronicles her journey through volunteering with them and eventually being hired by them and becoming a Planned Parenthood director. It also shares of her first hands-on experience with an abortion and how that one instance completely changed her views on whether Planned Parenthood was 'helping' women. Her story is incredible and God's grace is woven so beautifully throughout. This book reads like a novel-- I couldn't put it down! Abby's heart for others and her loving way of sharing the truth is powerful. Whatever your view on abortion or Planned Parenthood, this is the one book to read on these topics. Five stars, Abby. Thank you for your witness.

[This book was provided to me by Tyndale Publishers at no cost, in exchange for a review. These are my honest and original thoughts concerning the book. Thank you, Tyndale!]

I'm fascinated by the idea of working at home. Of small businesses. Of women entrepreneurs. Etsy shops make me dance inside. So when I saw Crystal Paine's new book Money Making Mom up for reviewing, I was all about it. The subtitle is even more appealed: How Every Woman Can Earn More and Make a Difference. 

P.and I both work for nonprofits. While we're both passionate about our jobs, we're also not climbing the financial ladder (and after seeing kids in Haiti, we're okay with that). Yet someday as God grows our family, we'd like for me to have more time with them at home, whether that mean working fewer hours and staying at home full-time. The crazy reality of this is that as our family gets bigger, our income will get smaller. 

Enter this book. Crystal is wonderful at empowering women to seek out their God-given talents, skills, and passions and to use them to create more income for their families. In the past, I've taught CPR classes, piano lessons, braided hair for dance recitals, and babysat. I was interested to see if this book could coach me in utilizing any of those skills (as well as my hobbies of blogging and crafting) in a business down the road. 

However, I have mixed feelings on this book. The pros: it's written very well. It's full of step by step guidance and encouragement. Crystal's heart and authenticity is apparent in her writing. The cons: personally, I don't want to grow a huge business that would become a full-time job. I simply want to make some extra money on the side to help our family in the long run. My ideas are somewhat smaller, and the ideas or instructions in the book intimidated or overwhelmed me at times. All in all, I  do think it's a great reference, and I will likely use it in the coming years for resources, encouragement, and ideas. I give it four stars. 

[Thank you to BookLook Bloggers for sending me a copy of this book at no cost to me. This review contains my honest and original thoughts.]