Love Changes Everything by Micah Berteau

Love Changes Everything by Micah Berteau is the first book that I have read from this author.  Let me just start out with this is a great book.  It would make a good study book for book clubs or small groups in churches.  I was hooked in the beginning then this book slows some but keep on reading.  The best is yet to come. 

The book begins with the author's young life and a story about him and his father and an experience when he was made quite aware at an early age that he had a great father who loved him and also that everyone didn't have such a great life and experience.  He tells of being lost in a theme park and being scared.  He was taken to a room to wait for his family and seeing another boy who was also lost.  The boys could look out on the theme park and the other boy could see his family still enjoying themselves while he was lost!  When the author saw his family though they were frantic with worry and so happy to see him.  The author had been afraid the his dad might be mad since he was lost because he had purposely wondered off to get ice cream but no his father showered him with love and forgave him for his error in judgment. 

The book then tells the Biblical story of Hosea and his wife Gomer and their unlikely relationship because of Hosea's trust in God.  The book then tells of God's love for us the readers and His consistent love for us though He is disappointed when we sin.  He loves us and never gives up on us no matter what.  He yearns to teach us His ways and wants us to feel the love that He has for us.  The author contrasts and compares the love that God has for us as our heavenly father with the love that we may have for our earthly father, noting that some have better relationships than others with their earthly father but that the relationship that the reader has with his heavenly father is only good.  All that is necessary for that good fatherly relationship is trust and belief.  He loves us before we even knew Him so certainly before we believed in Him and loved Him back.  How amazing is our God.

I would recommend this book to be read by everyone.  It will help cement your trust in the amazing love that God has for each of us.

An Amish Reunion by Amy Clipson, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Kelly Irvin

An Amish Reunion by Amy Clipson, Beth Wiseman, Kathleen Fuller, Kelly Irvin is a compilation of 4 stories each written by the aforementioned authors.  These authors are well known Christian romance writers  because they are so good.  When I received this book the next day was a rainy one and I sat right down and nearly read it in one day.  It is 372 pages long so quite a bit of my day was taken by sitting and reading but it sure was fun.

In the first story, Their True Home, Marlene and her family are moving back to Bird in Hand.  They had moved away right after Marlene's mother's death to get away from the constant reminders that were there but Marlene still felt that this town was her home and was happy to return even though her father was not.  It had been 10 years after all.  At 27 years old she was ready to make some of her own decisions and she wanted to stay here so she immediately got a job.  Her father wasn't happy but he was convinced to let her keep it.  Marlene quickly developed a friendship with her boss's son, Rudy, and he helped show her around and train her to the new job.  Marlene had a crush on him 10 years ago and Rudy had never gave her a second glance but now they could at least be working friends and Marlene needed a friend in this new community.  Marlene had a knack for running the store and did well but her father kept planning to move away as soon as possible.  Marlene meanwhile was finding herself drawn back into attraction to Rudy even though she continue to deny it and say they were just friends.  Rudy began to invite Marlene to the young adult groups from church and Marlene felt herself having to watch her emotions so that she would not fall for Rudy.  She had just left a relationship in her old home town and wasn't sure that she should jump into a new one.  Rudy was so nice to look at though and he was just so nice to her.  What should she do?  What should she do when her dad announces that he wants to move back?  How does Rudy feel about all this?  Read this story.  You will be delighted.

Well known author, Beth Wiseman, writes A Reunion of Hearts in the next story.  Ruth and Gideon Beiler had been married a long time when they finally had a child, Grace.  Of course they doted on her and were completely devastated when she died at 10 years old in an accident.  They simply couldn't get through it and left each other and their Amish faith.  They had never divorced but living in separate towns they never saw each other.  Both were still grieving after all this time but they had learned to live with it.  Both returned to go to the reunion but really they needed to return to get their house ready to sell.  People were tearing it up and it was just loosing value.  They both needed to spend some time at their daughter's plot in the cemetery and just as sad needed to go through their daughter's room in the house.  Their  niece, Becky, was 5 years old and was the only one who would talk about Grace and she asked many questions.  This opened the door to healing for both of them.  How would Ruth and Gideon heal?  Would they rekindle their love and marriage?  Real this lovely story of grief and loss for these and many more questions.

Kathleen Fuller writes of the elderly Cevilla Schlaback  in, A Chance to Remember.  In this story Cevilla was raised not in an Amish family but rather converted as an adult.  She had never married but lived in a home of her own.  She was becoming unable to keep up with all her needs and had recently gotten rid of her horse because she couldn't take proper care of her anymore and now had to depend on others for rides into town.  On the day that one of her pre-Amish days friends, Richard, decided to visit a trio of boys were cleaning up her gardens for the reward of cookies.  Richard had arrived with his granddaughter, Meghan.  Meghan had accompanied Richard because also elderly he sometimes needed help too.  Richard and Cevilla spent the day reminiscing before heading into town for a planned motel stay.  This hadn't worked out and Cevilla  invited both of them to stay at her home.  Meghan had misgivings about the no electricity thing but oddly enough they seemed to work it out and Meghan and Cevilla talked and grew close enough to discuss what had been bothering Meghan about her life.   Read this story to find out how Cevilla and Richard figure out how to use this last part of their life as well as how Meghan learns to deal with teenage heart ache and go on to find out what God as in store for herself in the future.

And now the 4th story, Mended Hearts by Kelly Irvin.  Hannah had made a terrible mistake at age 18 and shown her love with her boyfriend, Thaddeus by having sex with him.  When this resulted in pregnancy Thaddeus had left town.  Her church had shunned her and then afterwards they were supposed to forgive and forget but sometimes forget comes slowly.  Hannah knew that people still judged her and she hoped that her 18 month old Evie would not have to suffer for her sins.  Evie was such a joy and Hannah loved her so much.  Hannah had not taken up with any other boys except she had begun to allow Phillip to be her friend but that was all.  She just had lost all trust in men.  Then Thaddeus came back into town and he wanted to see his daughter and he wanted to ask the church and God for forgiveness.  She didn't know what to do.  She wanted to hate him.  What should she do?  Read this story to find out how Hannah learns to forgive and still be true to herself and her daughter.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.

The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah

The Book of Signs by Dr. David Jeremiah is Jeremiah's newest book.  I have got to admit I usually don't study too much in-depth into the book of Revelation.  In fact one of the things that I had noticed is that men tend to really get into studying Revelation and I don't see that much interest from women including myself.  This book really caught my interest from the very beginning.  It didn't seem to center on scare tactics to make the reader interested.  In fact it seems to be more interested into encouraging the reader to be prepared for the end times and then you will already be gone off of Earth.  It is a book that centers on what will happen to the others who have not declared themselves as Christian rather than what will happen to the believers.  This book centers on how the Christian can and should be fully prepared for the end time from the beginning and will leave in the twinkling of an eye just as was reported in the Bible.  The book of Revelation is a difficult to understand last book of the Bible and this book will help explain what this book is saying to the modern day Christian.  This book gives some answers to questions that non-believers have for the Christian of today.  How close are we to the end?  How can we tell when it will happen?  Plain and simple we cannot tell exactly when it will happen.  The Bible tells us that in very simple terms-we won't know.  If someone says that they know then we can know for certain that the person is lying to us.  We can know some signs that the end is drawing closer however and that is what this book is explaining to the reader.

I have enjoyed reading this book of Dr. Jeremiah.  Of course I love to hear him speak on the radio also.  This man can tell his audience the Biblical message in such an interesting manner and he is no different in speaking to his audience in the written form also.  I would advise anyone who is interested in a new Bible study to read this, or anyone who is interested in reading of end times.  As I said earlier this book is one of the few books on Revelation that I as a women thoroughly enjoyed reading.  He easily held my interest in this very deep subject.  Thank you Mr. Jeremiah for explaining this complex Biblical study for me.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.

Hearts in Harmony by Beth Wiseman

Hearts in Harmony by Beth Wiseman is the first book in the new series of An Amish Journey.  This first novel introduces the reader to Levi Shetler and his family as well as Mary Hershberger and her family.  They meet at the funeral of a well respected man from an Englisher family, Percy Collins.  Levi was there with his family because Percy's widow Adeline was a dear friend of his mother and Mary was there because Percy was a friend and business associate of her father.  Levi and Mary were both children. Levi had snuck into the parlor and was playing the piano and Mary looked in and caught him there.  Both children knew that playing instruments was strictly forbidden by the Amish faith and Levi was strongly punished with a switch for disobeying.  Fast-forward into the future 8 years and the 2 are returning to the farm of the Collins family because of a farm auction in which everything is being sold off because Adeline has run out of money.  The 2 children now young adults are surprised at how rundown the farm has become.  Levi being the youngest is volunteered by his mother to paint the house and do some groundwork.  Mary's father volunteers Mary to drive Adeline to the store and clean the house.  The 2 remembered each other from the childhood incident but differently.  Mary had held a little crush on young Levi and Levi barely remembered her at all but well remembered the piano in the parlor.  The two feel badly for Adeline and her situation and grow to love her as if she were a member of their family.  Levi comes from a very poor large family from a very strict Amish district and Mary comes from a family that has enough to satisfy all their needs and a more progressive district.  Even so the two find themselves drawing closer together and include Adeline's niece, Natalie, into their little group.  When the 3 find out that there is something wrong with Adeline and take her to the doctor they find that Adeline will not live much longer and the 3 work out a schedule to make sure that she is well provided for in her own home.

I loved this book.  This book brings to light just how differently the Amish districts can be depending on the thinking and beliefs of their bishop.  It also lets the reader know of the differences that money can make even among persons who are very conservative with their means.  It also brings to light that though money can be very helpful it cannot guarantee happiness nor correct decision making skills.  This book can be read by any age reader but would probably be enjoyed by older teens through adult women the most.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.

Castle on the Rise by Kristy Cambron

Castle on the Rise by Kristy Cambron is the next installment of the Lost Castle series by this author.  This novel investigates the history of this fictional castle through the eyes of real history.  In this fictional present day Laine Forrester have arrived in Ireland to celebrate her best friend Ellie's marriage to Quinn Foley.  The Foley brothers, Cormac and Quinn, have had a difficult relationship with their father, Jack, not made any easier since the recent death of their mother.  The Foley family has run a pub since 1797 which is this historical novel's roots.   The newly weds are renovating a castle for their future home and the Foley family has recently inherited another castle which needs to have the contents researched and categorized for sale or plan for the future.  This castle has many mysteries which require the main characters to look into the history of Ireland and history of the Foley family's beginnings in Ireland.  Ireland's fight for freedom from England's rule since the 18th century is the background of this story. The 1797 uprising first introduces the reader to the first Jack Foley and his courageous part as a young groom working with the horses of the Ashford family.  The Ashford family must make their decisions on whether to side with the Irish that they live among or the English who they depend for their security.  The Irish fail is this attempt for freedom.  The next named fight for freedom occurs in 1915 and describes that century's Jack Foley's importance in the freedom fight and how the family fights with the rebels for freedom again even though from the outset it is almost certain to fail once again.

 I read only this book of the series and so occasionally found myself having to re-read parts of the book.  This is a historical romance but it does require a certain amount of concentration to digest it and keep track of the 2 different histories of information.  It is simply a fascinating story and because it is fictionalized the story can be more seamlessly told.  It is a book to be read when you have time to be able to just sit and read and enjoy.  A great rainy day book that I think anyone (not just women) would enjoy reading.  The romance is a minor part of what is mostly fictionalized history of Ireland.  In the back of the book the author tells which are historical characters and which are fictional, I wish I would have read that part first since I am not as up on Irish history as I should be.
I received this book from Booksneeze for this review.

Dangerous Prayers

Dangerous Prayers has been compiled by Susan Hill and published by Thomas Hill Publishing.  This is a book about the Christians in our history especially of the United States and a prayer associated with them.  I got this book because I thought that it would be a book of courageous prayers and how that was associated with danger either to the world or to the person who prayed it but it really isn't.  The book is divided into Christians mostly well known and each person gets 2 or 3 pages to tell their life or lifework and then it is followed by a prayer or song which they prayed or sang during usually a difficult time.  These stories are very interesting backgrounds into the person especially the little known Christians who have written famous prayers or songs.  My favorite prayer is from Harriet Tubman, "I'm going to hold steady on You. You've got to see me through."  It is also the shortest which reminds the reader that it is not what we say in prayer but rather what the Lord tells to us.  I wonder how often the person doing the prayer waits to listen to the Lord but rather only speaks to the Lord.  We must remember that the listening is the important part.

Many of these stories and prayers spoke to me and I am glad that I read this book.  At first I was disappointed in that the book was much different than I expected from reading the short review on the back of the book.  Then I got into what the book was telling me about these Christian's life and their work and it really is interesting.  This would make a nice gift for a new Christian maybe at baptism or joining a church.  I would recommend reading this book though I would only give 4 stars because I think that the book should revise how they are advertising it.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.

Decoding your Dreams by Jennifer LeClaire

Decoding your Dreams by Jennifer LeClaire is an easy to read book looking at the meanings behind your dreams.  The author looks at dreams as either a message from God, from the enemy, or could be just your thoughts being rehashed. She looks at these dreams as being an important part of your day.  This book is meant to be a first book for the dreamer to begin to interpret their own dreams and so does not go deep into what your dreams mean.  One of the first things to do to decide what God is wanting the dreamer to know is to pray and ask God to help you to know what God is telling you the dreamer.  Then the dreamer should make and keep a dream journal.  Just as soon as you have the dream you are to write down the dream in as much detail as you can remember: colors, numbers, people, your thoughts during the dream, and just anything that you can remember.  At least once per year you should read back though your dreams to see if you get anymore insight into their meanings.  The author then tells what different codes mean to different cultures or different families such as dreams of red may mean love, anger or danger to us but in Asian culture it may mean something associated with luck.  In the U.S. yellow may mean being cowardly but in Greek culture it could mean sadness.  The author states that just as God will speak to the English speaking person in English and not in Spanish that He will also follow cultural norms.  She states that because of these differences to be careful in looking up dream codes on the internet because some of these discrepancies could occur. She also states that God will make the meaning known to the dreamer.  Possibly the dreamer will awaken with the knowledge but sometimes the dreamer must get this information over time.  She does say that the dreamer should understand the dream eventually with prayer because God wants the dreamer to understand.

I picked this book because I was having a reoccurring dream that I wanted to know the meaning of it.  After reading the book and carefully following the author's advice I am no closer to knowing the meaning than I ever was so I must assume that this is a dream that will require time to understand.  I also thought that this book was a little simplistic.  It, I felt could have gone a little deeper even for a beginner book.  I give this book 3 stars.
I received this book from BookLook for this review.