Recent Reads

Earlier this year I mentioned how I had gotten into a habit of negative thinking and complaining. When I saw this book, I thought it looked like a fun read with a good message-- a serious topic dealt with using a bit of sympathy and humor based on the title! It was a great read! There were a few times I felt like it got long and drawn out. A few times it seemed like just another book on motherhood. But overall I have to say it really made me think and it really was convicting. The author is excellent about sharing her own story to be relatable but doesn't stop there with justification or excuse. Instead she calls both the reader and herself to a higher place and helps us examine our motives for why we allow ourselves to get into complaining or negativity about motherhood and 'the daily grind.' I really appreciated the way she gently yet persistently argued against acceptance of motherhood just being a hot mess (even though we all have those days) and encouraged the reader to dive deeper into our spiritual lives for things that might be holding us back from excellence (yet NOT perfection!) in motherhood. 4 out of 5 stars.

[Thank you to Baker Publishing Group for my complimentary e-copy. This review contains my honest and original thoughts.]

Oh, I wanted to like this one more than I did. I LOVE Amy Parker's children's books and was excited to see she was coming out with a collection of Biblical bedtime stories. Maybe I set myself up for disappointment with my high expectations. The stories are good. The pictures are good. The 'extras' are good. But it's all just good...and I kind of expected great. The book is smaller than I thought for a collection of stories and I think it would be better if it were a larger size. I couldn't figure out the target age range for the stories. On one hand, the book seems better for a child who can read it him/herself. Yet since it's a bedtime collection, it seems as if it should be read to a younger child. Plus there are some slightly cheesy rhymes with each story...maybe too cheesy for older kids? Yet my almost-3-year-old seems too young to understand the stories written as they are, especially without many pictures and in a smallish book. Am I being hard to please? Maybe. But unfortunately was just 3 out of 5 stars for me.

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