“Beyond the Castle” surprised me in many ways. To start, I didn’t have high expectations of the book. I thought it would be a cute, fluffy, but essentially useless book of platitudes, and “happy thoughts” that don’t really work on the bad days. To sum up how the real content of the book compares to my expectations, three words are most fitting: I was wrong. Continue reading
Month: October 2017
A Mild, Pleasant Amish Story
Every once in a while I enjoy giving a new Amish novel a try, and usually it is the Beverly Lewis titles that catch my eye. “The Proving” is Ms. Lewis’ newest release from Bethany House, and tells the story of Mandy, a young woman who thought she had left her Amish life behind forever. . . Until she receives a letter from her brother, informing her of their mother’s death and the news that the family’s thriving Bed and Breakfast has been left to none other than Mandy herself. Continue reading
A Fascinating, Compelling Guide to Understanding Personality
Fantastic! Intriguing! Life-changing! The best non-fiction book I’ve read this year! That is basically my short description of a book by Anne Bogel called “Reading People: How Seeing the World Through the Lens of Personality Changes Everything”. Published by BakerBooks in the autumn of 2017, the sub-title of this book really says it all. Why? Because everything truly does change when you view life through the lens of personality! As the back cover asks, “Want to revolutionize the way you live, love, work, and pray? Understanding personality is the first step!” If you’ve ever wanted a better understanding of the personality frameworks that are popular today, this book should definitely go to the top of your must-read pile. Continue reading
Be Swept Away to a World of Ballrooms and Dancing
The moment we’ve all been waiting for (or at least all the fans of Kristi Ann Hunter’s Regency-era “Hawthorne House” series have been waiting for) finally arrived in the autumn of 2017! From Bethany House comes “An Inconvenient Beauty”, the story of the last, unmarried Hawthorne sibling: Griffith, Duke of Riverton. Because Griffith was a character we all came to adore in the previous books, I’m certain I wasn’t the only reader waiting with baited breath to finally encounter the lady who would win his heart. Continue reading
A Must-Read Before Christmas!
For many people, Christmas can be a rather controversial topic. It’s supposed to be the “most wonderful time of the year”, filled with reflection on the baby in a manger and quality time with family. While this may be the case to some degree, there’s more to the story for most families. . . In reality, this season is also a time of hectic chaos, heartache that seems to build up from a difficult year, and frustration over what we wish was true but isn’t. In a new book from Baker Publishing, “Loving My Actual Christmas: An Experiment in Relishing the Season”, Alexandra Kuykendall unpacks some great insights into being present AND finding joy in our own actual, imperfect Christmases. Continue reading
Moderately Enjoyable
Jane Kirkpatrick is a bestselling author who is renowned for selecting inspirational women from history and weaving a story around the factual details of their lives. Her newest novel from Revell, “All She Left Behind”, follows this pattern as she shares the story of Jennie Pickett, a women who lives on the Oregon frontier of the 1870s and longs to become a healer. . . Or more specifically, a doctor. Continue reading
Prairie Sky Book Reviews 