Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Ka*Pop!!!



It's Time to Fly: Daily Devotionals for Families

This is the integration of music and family devotions.  Ka*Pop is a Christian band comprised of three fathers creating music that is “family friendly” and Biblically based.  Linda C. Davis has taken twelve songs from Ka*Pop’s album It’s Time to Fly and based a week’s worth of devotions based on the each song for a total of 84 devotions.

Each week begins with the lyrics of the song.  If you do not have the album you will want to look up the available videos on YouTube or you can listen to Ka*Pop Radio on their website.  Each daily devotion is fairly short with a “Dig Deeper” segment to look into the Bible to find out what God has to say about the subject.

This is a great way to give your family a bit of change when it comes to family devotions or to get started doing them.  Most children love music and singing.  Why not have them listening to something you know will be good for them and then discussing themes that come from them.  You might even find that, especially with older children, they may begin to think more critically about the songs they hear on the radio and videos they see.  Providing a Biblical foundation for the music they listen to will help them realize that a catchy tune is not necessarily an innocent tune. 
For more information about this book click here or the title above.

I received this book free of charge through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tuesday, June 26, 2012

“Ignore The Rushing Water….”


Through Rushing Water, Catherine Richmond



…Advice Sophia hangs on to so her heart doesn’t completely break.  A Russian exile who has traveled the world, Sophia had high hopes of becoming a woman of great influence as the wife of a U.S. Congressman in Washington.  When those hopes are rather publically dashed, Sophia hastily joins a missionary society in hopes of being sent to China, from where she might one day make her way back to Russia.

Sophia ends up at the Ponca Agency in the middle of Dakota Territory.  It does not take her long to understand how deprived the Ponca Tribe is.  As the only teacher who has stuck around for more than a couple of months, she comes to love her students and learn that she is a woman of influence no matter where she is.

The story is very good, though some of the characters tended to be a bit stereotypical.  And even kind of knowing what would eventually happen with the Tribe, I wanted to keep reading.  Having never heard of the Ponca Tribe, it was interesting to know that one of the main Ponca characters was an actual historical figure.  The tribe was treated horribly by the United States government.  Sophia learns through her time at the Agency that she has to “ignore the rushing water”, there are so many problems to face that trying to take them all on at once will drown you.  But if you focus on what you can fix, those you can help, then you will make it through the rushing water helping others along the way.
For more information about this story, click here, or the title above!

I received this book free of charge from BookSneeze in exchange for an honest review.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

“A Silver-Haired Prophet Has Failed”

Prophet, R. J. Larson, 978-0-7642-0971-0


Seventeen year-old Ela of Parne has grown up with this saying.  When the Infinite makes it clear He has chosen her to be His next prophet, Ela accepts knowing she will die young.  She chooses to follow the will of the Infinite and bring His message to the nations.

I really enjoyed reading this story.  The characters are engaging and the story itself moves quickly.  Prophet is in the fantasy genre but to me it is really more of a conglomeration of Old Testament events; a little Moses, a bit of a Ninevite type group of people, etc., woven together into a great story all its own.  The fantasy is very “earthy”, other than a few strange creatures, everything else is familiar—which is good for those of us who do no normally go the fantasy route.  I am looking forward to the next in the series—Judge.

Prophet is one of those books that you could go on and on about because it was so enjoyable, but you would give all the details away and no one else would need to read it!  So let me just say, in my opinion, you should definitely get this one.
For more information and to read an excerpt for Prophet, click here or the title above!

I received this book free of charge from Bethany House Publishers in exchange for an honest review.

Friday, June 8, 2012

This Girl’s Situations are Implausible!


Threat of Darkness


But... I guess that is what fiction is for.  Samantha is a nurse and a children’s advocate trying to protect her hometown’s children from the type of abusive situation she grew up in.  Sam finds herself in the middle of some bad guys wanting a package back that they believe has been passed to her.  She also is keeping her eye on a child she thinks is being abused by his politically influential father.  Who should come to her rescue over and over again but John Waltham, the only man she has ever loved and the one she never wanted to see again.

To say that Sam is headstrong is an understatement.  She is completely foolhardy and made me wish she would just use her brain instead of rushing off to do something else that was dumb.  Faithful John puts up and forgives her impetuousness each time and continues to come to her rescue.

The story is okay, the continued recklessness of Sam wore on me a bit.  However, I was drawn into the story enough to want to finish it.
For more information and to read an excerpt, click here, or on the title above!

I received this book free of charge from Harlequin through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Kid Ministries Won’t Teach Your Children To Love The Lord!


Raising Your Kids to Love the Lord, Dave Stone

It is your job, privilege, ministry to create a desire for God in the hearts of your children.  In Raising Your Kids To Love The Lord, Pastor Stone gives practical, sound, Biblical advice on how to instill in your children a love of the Lord, based on his own experience.  He reminds us that this is the parent’s responsibility.  The main point of this book is to raise your children to love the Lord—you first need to love the Lord and demonstrate that in your life.

This book is especially great for those who are new to serving the Lord, but it wouldn’t hurt all parents in the church to read this one.  This book is super easy to read through and it is full of really good advice.  The chapters that were devoted to the individual parental units, “A Mother’s Heart”, and “A Father’s Gifts”, were wonderful.  They really remind us that Mothers and Fathers have distinctive rolls in the raising and nurturing of their children.

Definitely worth the investment for yourself or to give as a gift.
For more information about this book, click here or the title above!

I received this book free of charge from the BookSneeze program in exchange for an honest review.

Friday, June 1, 2012

It Would Be A Lot Easier If They Already Knew This Stuff….




This is a good book written for Moms about how to deal with some serious subjects with their sons.  As women, moms have a different perspective on life that will help their sons deal with life’s relationships and issues as they grow.  Vicki Courtney has given us five main topics to discuss, not all at once, but through the years, with our men-to-be.  Topics such as, being a guy, self-control, sex, taking responsibility for himself, and being a godly man.

All the information is really good, a good portion of it is common sense, but for some, particularly those who were not raised around boys, this book will come in handy.  The author does rely heavily on the works of others, which kind of bothers me a bit.  However, it does cut down on a lot of reading to have it condensed here.  Each reference is listed, so if you find something interesting you can look up the other work.

All in all, it is a good book to give you some insight into the workings of your son’s heart and mind.

For more information and a preview of the book, click here of the title above.

I received this book free of charge from B&H Publishing Group in exchange for an honest review.