"The Promises She Keeps" by, Erin Healy

This book entitled “The Promises She Keeps” by Erin Healy is a very creative book. It weaves together the lives of five very interesting characters; an autistic artist named Chase, Chase’s caregiver and twin sister Chelsea, a singer named Promise that has cystic fibrosis, a witch named Porta, and Porta’s substance abusing son and aspiring artist named Zack. This book shows the struggles of following the things of the flesh and that everlasting life is only given because of Jesus Christ.

When reading the description of this book I didn’t think that I was going to particularly like it because there were too many “interesting” characters involved but, I ended up really liking this book and not wanting to put it down. Although the characters in this book are extreme, you can also find that you relate with one or several of them. Chase sees life for what it really is, Chelsea is career oriented, Promise is always looking for greatness and fame, Porta is seeking lasting youth, and Zack is trying to avoid life. It had enough quirkiness to be very interesting and to make you think about and re-evaluate your own life and goals.

The one and only critique that I would give is that the author didn’t know enough about cystic fibrosis (CF) to know that there would not be two friends with CF living together. Although individuals with CF can sometimes be around other people, it is deadly for them to be around another person with CF because of the harmful bacteria that is likely to be passed back and forth to each other. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through the publishers at BookSneeze.com.

"Little Star" by, Anthony DeStefano

The book “Little Star” is a children’s picture book that captures the Christmas story through the eyes of a star. This story begins with a little boy looking out the window asking his father where the little star is that shone brightly to announce the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The father tells the story of the little star being too small and lonely that he got ignored just like Mary and Joseph got ignored when they were searching for an inn. The little star, although smaller than the others, spent all of his power to shine brightly so that Jesus could stay warm and others could find him to worship. It ends by describing that even though that star is no longer in the sky, that it is remembered when we put the star on the top of our Christmas tree every year.

This book was cute and showed a different interpretation than the typical Christmas stories, from the eyes of the star. It was a very creative idea but, I didn’t necessarily like all of the book’s wording. Although it did tell the story of Jesus’ birth, it also said that the star was meant to warm Jesus when really it was a sign that he was born and allowed a way for people to find him and worship him. All in all, this book was just alright. I am sure that I will read it to my daughter when she gets older but I don’t think that it will necessarily be a favorite Christmas story. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

"God Loves Me More Than That" By, Dandi Daley Mackall

This an adorable, rhyming children's book about how God's love is higher, deeper, wider, bigger, louder, and softer than even the highest, deepest, widest, biggest, loudest, and softest things possible on earth. When I was reading this book it brought to my mind the verse "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19).” This book has wonderful illustrations and captures even my one year old daughter’s attention. This is definitely a book that will be a family favorite for years to come. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

"SoulPrint" By, Mark Batterson

This book entitled "SoulPrint" is written by Mark Batterson. This book implores you to take a look at your own life to find what you are truly destined to be; find your soul print. Mark does an excellent job explaining and describing how to find your unique soul print. He expresses the need of past experience, integrity, embarrassment, and acknowledgment of sins as helping you to define your unique skills and self discovery. He does this through following David as he goes through joyous times, times of battle, and difficult times all as part of God’s divine plan for him.

He explains thoroughly throughout the book that each of our soul prints are as unique as our fingerprints and that God’s plan for our life is not the same as his plan for anyone else. He expresses that each of us needs to strive to find ourselves and not be defined by others but to be defined solely by God. This book was excellent and I would highly recommend it to anyone. In my life, as I am sure it is in most lives, I tend to define myself by what others expect or what is socially acceptable. This book can help anyone from any walk of life to navigate your way back to the path that God intends you to be on. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

"Adventures in BoogaBooga Land: Squid Sushi Loses His Marble" (DVD) by, Thomas Nelson

The dvd entitled Adventures in BoogaBooga Land: Squid Sushi Loses His Marble is a children’s dvd that teaches three parables. The dvd contains three episodes, one for each of the parables and each episode is about 15 minutes in length. The three parables that it portrays are: the lost pearl (Matthew 13:45-46), the soil and the seeds (Matthew 13:24-30), and the wedding banquet (Matthew 22:2-14). Although I was looking for a great new Christian dvd for my daughter this one was a bit of a disappointment to me. I was expecting to see a show that was different than most other cartoons because it was based on the Bible. The only way that I could tell that it was a Christian dvd was the fact that it told the Bible verse that the parable came from before each of the segments began.

The first parable portrayed on the dvd was the parable of the lost pearl. I did not feel that it had a very good story line and that it didn’t relate anything to the kingdom of heaven or even hint at it. The second parable portrayed was the soil and the seed and had nothing to do with the parable at all. The third parable portrayed was the wedding banquet and by far, out of the three, this one made the most sense and had a good enough cartoon storyline to go along with it.

The characters of this series are just average but lack a bit of energy. The Christian values don’t seem to be represented much in these movies because there are a lot of characters getting hurt (splatted, sling-shotted, catapulted, etc.) with no apologies or asking if they are alright. I wouldn’t really recommend this dvd to anyone with the vision of helping their child learn about the Bible stories but if you would like just a typical cartoon then this dvd would be fine for that. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through the publishers at BookSneeze.com.

"Lady In Waiting" by Susan Meissner

I just got finished reading Lady in Waiting by Susan Meissner, and I absolutely loved it! I have to admit that I like history but do not spend much time studying it nor do I know a lot of history, especially when it comes to English history. Even with that said I could not put this historical fiction novel down. I only read it in the evening when my daughter went to bed and still managed to finish it in just three days. This book had the perfect amount of history and fiction mixed together to create a beautiful story. This novel is about two Janes of different times; one of the present day United States (Jane Lindsay) and one of the 16th Century England (Lady Jane Grey). The two stories intertwine when Jane Lindsay is intrigued when she finds and old ring with an inscription and her first name. Both present day Jane and 16th Century Jane have trials with their marriages and struggle to find who they truly are and want to be. I would highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in history and/or just enjoys a really well written fiction novel. This book entices you to keep reading to find out the story of the two Janes. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.

"God Gave Us So Much" by Lisa Bergren

This book entitled God Gave Us So Much contains three full stories from the perspective of a little polar bear. The first section of the book is entitled God Gave Us The World. In this story it talks about how God made each of us different in the ways we look, act, where we live, and what we eat. It also discusses how we need to protect the world because God made it special for us. The second section of the book is entitled God Gave Us Love. This book talks about the three types of love but in terms that kids can understand. It teaches that God gave us love but it is up to us to choose to love others. The last section of the book is entitled God Gave Us Heaven. This book delicately talks about death and all of the glories of heaven that we cannot even fathom. It also discusses how we can only get to heaven through Jesus and that we won’t need to bring things from this world with us. The illustrations in the entire book are very cute and eye catching for kids. These three books all have great messages for kids of all ages about God. My only critique for this book is that the stories all are in a short conversation format but the illustrations seem to take place at various locations throughout a full day; they don’t completely go together in a cohesive timeline. I received a free copy of this book for an honest review through Waterbrook Multnomah Publishers.