Tag: book recommendations

Posted on

Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries

I wasn’t sure what to expect when I picked up Emily Wilde’s Encyclopaedia of Faeries by Heather Fawcett. I used to read a lot of fantasy but have moved toward contemporary fiction over the last fifteen to twenty years, so I didn’t know whether I would like this book. However, I was pleasantly surprised and I enjoyed it very much.

The main character is Emily Wilde, a professor of faerie folklore at Cambridge. She makes a trip to a small town far north of where she lives to study the local faeries. She is surprised to be joined by a fellow academic, Wendell Bambleby, and the story continues with them working together on this project.

The thing I liked most about the book was Emily’s internal monologue as various events unfolded. She is an autistic-coded character, so I could relate a lot to her thoughts and feelings about things. Bambleby’s character was harder to relate to, although that got easier as I learned more about him.

Highly recommend!

Posted on

Smells Like Tween Spirit

I have thoroughly enjoyed the entire Class Mom series by Laurie Gelman, and this one was no exception.This first three books were about Jen Dixon’s adventures as class mom for her son Max during his elementary school years, and this one covers her involvement as he moves into middle school and gets into wrestling.

She is also juggling helping her parents as they get older and her adult daughters as they are finding their way in the world, in addition to teaching spin classes and spending time with her adorable granddaughter, all while facing symptoms of perimenopause.

I love Jen’s character so much; she is snarky and fun and truly cares about the people in her life. The situations she finds herself in vary from serious to comical, but she always comes through. I devoured this book in one sitting and found it just as good as the first one.

I would recommend starting with the first book in the series so that you get to know the characters and their stories before getting to this one.

Posted on

Wedding at Bella Beach

Wedding at Bella Beach by Kate Wentworth – Bella Beach #7

This is the final full-length book in the Bella Beach series and covers the wedding of Emma Sinclair, who was the main character of the first book. There is a novella about Emma’s daughter Alexis coming out this December called Christmas Wedding at Bella Beach.

This was a fast, feel-good read. It’s probably good that the series is ending because the author spent quite a bit of time making sure we remembered what had happened with each of the characters in the previous books. It did still have some new developments and, of course, there were all the fun things leading up to the wedding.

Posted on

The Lonely Hearts Book Club

The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore

In small-town Washington, an eclectic group of misfits–spearheaded by young librarian Sloane and curmudgeonly reader Arthur–forms a unique book club that leads to unexpected bonds.

I had enjoyed Gilmore’s more recent book, The Library of Borrowed Hearts, so I decided to go back and read this one. It was a fun read, and I liked the characters and how their relationships develop over the course of the book.

I did have trouble following some of the characters’ feelings and motivations, but I can’t say whether that is because of the writing or because of the way my autistic brain works. The story got easier to follow during the later chapters.

Posted on

The Evolution of Adam

The Evolution of Adam: What the Bible Does and Doesn’t Say About Human Origins by Peter Enns

Summary

Can Christianity and evolution coexist? Traditional Christian teaching presents Jesus as reversing the effects of the fall of Adam. But an evolutionary view of human origins doesn’t allow for a literal Adam, making evolution seemingly incompatible with what Genesis and the apostle Paul say about him. 

For Christians who both accept evolution and want to take the Bible seriously, this can present a faith-shaking tension. Popular Old Testament scholar Peter Enns offers a way forward by explaining how this tension is caused not by the discoveries of science but by false expectations about the biblical texts.

My Thoughts

I really appreciated this book. The reading I have done so far on Christianity and evolution focused on the various beliefs about the origins of life as well as the stories of a worldwide flood, and I hadn’t really thought about the implications of this as it relates to the existence of Adam.

Enns spends time discussing the appearance of Adam in the Old Testament as well as the mentions made of Adam by Paul in the New Testament. He explains a lot about the cultural and theological environments of both times and how those environments affected the way the Scriptures were written, as well as how the time we live in affects the way we interpret it.

As he states in Chapter 6: Paul as an Ancient Interpreter of the Old Testament:

The authors of Scripture did not speak at a safe distance from their culture but wrote as people living in a particular time and place in human history….The Old Testament already does in principle what Paul is doing here: reworking the past to speak to the present….It is the very act of altering the past to address present circumstances that ensures Scripture’s continuation as the active and abiding Word of God, not a relic of a bygone era.

The Evolution of Adam gave me a lot to think about, and I am glad I got the chance to read it. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the topic.

Posted on

Every Time You Go Away

Every Time You Go Away by Beth Harbison

Willa Bennett’s husband Ben passed away three years ago while he was up at their beach house to do some work on it. She has not really been living her life since, including not being very present for her teenage son, Jamie. Now she is heading to the beach house to get it ready to sell, hoping it will help her to move on. Once she arrives, she is surprised to encounter her husband’s ghost.

When it turns out there is a lot of work to do before she can sell, she summons her son Jamie, her best friend Kristin, and Kristin’s daughter Kelsey to come for the summer. Even with their company, she continues to see Ben and is even able to talk with him, reminiscing about their life together and how she is dealing with being on her own.

I enjoyed this book so much. The writing was engaging and emotional, with well-developed, relatable characters. The touch of the supernatural was handled very well–I loved the interactions between Willa and Ben. For me, it was a satisfying story about moving through grief and finding healing.

Posted on

The Sandy Page Bookshop

The Sandy Page Bookshop by Hannah McKinnon

Leah is fresh out of a job and an engagement, so she moves back to her Cape Cod hometown. Once there, she impulsively decides to rent and renovate a historic home so that she can open a bookshop. A cast of characters forms around her, some of whom we get to know quite well as there are chapters told from their point of view. 

There’s Lucy, a teenager whose older sister has been severely injured in a car accident; Eudora, a widow who has become afraid to leave her home; and Luke, a local woodworker who knew Leah in high school. 

I enjoyed this book very much. The characters are likable and the bookstore is a charming setting. I would definitely recommend this when you are looking for a lighthearted, feel-good read.

Posted on

Top Books from the First Half of 2025

I thought it would be fun to look back over the first six months of the year and see what books rose to the top for me.  

Here are my top ten fiction books for the first half of 2025:

  • Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
  • Ordinary Life: Stories by Elizabeth Berg
  • Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume
  • Found in a Bookshop by Stephanie Butland
  • The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
  • More or Less Maddy by Lisa Genova
  • Forever, Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
  • Bonded in Death by J.D. Robb
  • Lethal Prey by John Sandford
  • The Taste of Ginger by Mansi Shaw

And here are my top 5 nonfiction books:

  • Followers Under 40 by Rachel Gilmore and Kris Sledge
  • Baby Dinosaurs on the Ark? by Janet Kellogg Ray
  • The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby
  • How to Fight Racism by Jemar Tisby
  • God and the Gay Christian by Matthew Vines

Have you read any of these, and what did you think of them?

Posted on

What I Read This Week – August 2nd

I finished three books this week. Here are my super short but sweet reviews!

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I loved the journey this book took me on. I am so glad I started reading her books and that there are still more for me to catch up on! 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Nantucket Restaurant by Pamela Kelley

I always enjoy Pamela Kelley, and this was no exception. This was a great, light-hearted read.

⭐⭐⭐

What Happens in Paradise by Elin Hilderbrand

This was okay, kept my interest just enough that I do plan to read the third book in the trilogy hoping for some closure.

Posted on

What I Read This Week – July 26th

This week I only finished 2 books. I try to read 1 nonfiction book every month, and this week I read my nonfiction selection for July. Even though I do want to read nonfiction, I still have a mental block that makes me resist picking it up and diving in, so having the objective goal of 1 per month helps me stay accountable.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Becoming the Pastor’s Wife: How Marriage Replaced Ordination as a Woman’s Path to Ministry by Beth Allison Barr

This book gives an account of how we have seen women in ministry treated in the Bible to medieval times to the present. The present/recent history deals mainly with the SBC, a conservative denomination in the US.

I have to admit I skimmed some of it, but I did find it very interesting how women have been moved out of leadership roles into often unpaid, non-leader ministry, especially in terms of the role of the pastor’s wife.

If you are looking for a good discussion of women in ministry, this is a good choice. For more general info on how women are treated in conservative circles, check out her earlier book The Making of Biblical Womanhood, which I highly recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Flirting Lessons by Jasmine Guillory

I loved this one! The characters were so well done and the relationships (both friendly and romantic) were so realistic. I really enjoyed her writing style, and I appreciated that even when there were miscommunications, they weren’t cringe-inducing but instead opportunities for growth and honesty.