Winter Reading: One for Me and One for Baby

I'm still reading like it's my job...but maybe more a part-time job now because little G is awake and loves attention much more than she used to. I'm taking this reading challenge for the year but will probably pick and choose with a few of the books on the list as well as add in some of my own, including fiction. I just finished the fiction book below and realized I need more fiction in my life. I mean, I love reading on homemaking and organization and recipes and such to improve and streamline in those areas...but let's be honest...sometimes I want to escape those areas and get lost in a fiction story!

Where Hope Prevails is the third in the Return to the Canadian West series by Janette Oke and her daughter Laurel Oke Logan. I shared my thoughts on the second book in a past review. I definitely liked this book better than the previous one in the series. I'll pretty much read anything about a prairie teacher out West. Ever since I was a little girl, that particular story line has always captured me (Laura Ingalls, anyone?). As usual, Janette Oke's style is occasionally slow and almost boring or predictable, but also endearing to me. Though I skimmed a few chapters, for the most part I enjoyed the rhythm of this book and reading about the heroine and her story, even if it was the day-to-day activities-- or maybe particularly the day-to-day activities. I know I romanticize it but I love learning about how women of that era made their own clothes and cooked meals on a rustic stove and just the simplicity and authenticity of their lives and relationships. I think it's the same reason I enjoy Amish fiction. Overall, I'd give the book a 4 out of 5. Not a page-turner by any means, but a comfortable friend kind of book.

[Thank you to Bethany House for my complimentary copy. This review contains my honest and original thoughts.]

And then there's this sweet gem for the babe. I LOVE LOVE LOVE (have I emphasized it enough?) the song "Good Good Father" by Chris Tomlin and it brings me to tears nearly every time-- both the reality of the blessing of my earthly father and what a great dad he was and is, as well as the amazing truth that God is my heavenly Father and such a good and loving one, even infinitely more than my dad here on earth. As soon as I saw this book for little ones, I was so excited. I am SO thankful for the way my husband loves our daughter. He's already an incredibly loving daddy and I know as she grows older, she will be beyond blessed to have such a stable, godly, loving man as her dad. In turn, I love that that relationship will help her come to know (I pray it will!) God as a loving and good father. This book was a sweet board book full of cute pictures and different ways to relate to God as a father. For example, a good father is "like a king who is fair and kind, He rules with your very best in mind." My only disappointment was that it didn't actually talk about God. The whole time is shows a lion with each comparison and is speaking of what a "good father" is like, but it's never actually said the God is a good father like all those things. I suppose it sparks good conversation about the topic but it left me not completely satisfied. Beautiful book overall--size, words, pictures, quality. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Thank you to BookLook Bloggers for my complimentary copy. This review contains my honest and original thoughts.]