Book Review: Redeeming Love

I know that it's Tuesday.  I should be hosting Dinner Time Tuesday right now, but I'm not for two reasons:

1) We don't really have any food.  So I haven't really been making dinner. (ie. I ate tortilla chips and salsa for dinner yesterday.)
2)  It's usually only Kristin and I linking up anyway, so I figured it could wait until next week.....or until I buy some food, whichever comes first! :)

Instead, I share with you my review of Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers. 

Here's what Goodreads.com has to say: California's gold country, 1850. A time when men sold their souls for a bag of gold and women sold their bodies for a place to sleep.

Angel expects nothing from men but betrayal. Sold into prostitution as a child she survives by keeping her hatred alive. And what she hates most are the men who use her, leaving her empty and dead inside.

Then she meets Michael Hosea. A man who seeks his Father's heart in everything, Michael obeys God's call to marry Angel and to love her unconditionally. Slowly, day by day, he defies Angel's every bitter expectation, until despite her resistance, her frozen heart begins to thaw.

But with her unexpected softening come overwhelming feelings of unworthiness and fear. And so Angel runs. Back to the darkness, away from her husband's pursuing love, terrified of the truth she no longer can deny: Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does ... the One who will never let her go.

I cannot even put into words how good this book is!  I'm so glad Julie sent it to me during our Book Swap with Ashley way back in April!

This book is an amazing story of God's redeeming and unconditional love. Rivers creates a beautiful love story, not just between the characters and God, but between man and woman. It is a story of hope and love, and it reminds us that no matter how awful we may be, God will forgive us. 

I feel like I could go on and on about this book, but at the same time, I can't find any more words than the ones above because I feel like it just sums it up so well.  If you're looking for a book to finish off your summer reading or a book that's just simply amazing, I highly recommend this one!

Book Review: The Poisonwood Bible

I have finished my 5th book of 2013:

source

Here is the synopsis from amazon.com: 
The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it—from garden seeds to Scripture—is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.

My partner, Julie, from a Book Swap hosted in April by Ashley from Being Ashley sent me this book.  I didn't have time to read it until now.  When I started reading, it took me awhile to really get into it. It was not one that captured me right away, and I was able to put it down for days at a time.  BUT I kept telling myself that I needed to keep reading because a few people had commented on my Book Swap Reveal post, and said it was a good book.  PLUS, I trusted Julie's judgment. 
It is a good thing I persevered because the more I read, the more I liked. I enjoyed that the story was told from the perspectives of the mother and her daughters. I eventually felt like I was sharing in their struggles against their stubborn man of the house.  Without revealing too much, Nathan Price's dream was to baptize the people and children in Africa.  The problem is that he just couldn't understand that he wasn't reaching them.  He wasn't meeting them where they were.  He would not listen to the council of others, and rather than turning them to Jesus, he was confusing them or turning them away.

The thing I liked the most was following the girls through their journey and being able to read about their lives after they were grown.  I was surprised by the choices some of them made!

I would definitely recommend The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver if you're looking for a book to add to your summer reading list!

You can view my updated Summer Reading List here.

Book Swap Reveal!!

So the wonderful Ashley from Being Ashley set up a book swap for her readers.  I couldn't resist signing up!

I was paired up with Julie from Love, JulieBug.  I am so happy that Ashley paired us.  Since we were "set up," I've been getting to know her, and she's great!  I enjoy reading her blog and learning more about her.  We shared a little about our reading preferences, set up our price limit, and then we got to work! 

So here's what came in the mail for me:

I can now add The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver and Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers to my summer reading list.  Based on the back cover, both books sound amazing!  :)  In fact, I am thinking of getting my summer reading list off to a start sooner rather than later. 

Thank you, Ashley for setting up the swap, and thank you, Julie for the books!! :)

Speaking of swapping....is anyone interesting in swapping blog buttons with me??  It's totally free!