Meal Time Devotions by John Avery Whitaker

Everyone in our house loves Adventures in Odyssey and Whit's End. So when I got the opportunity to review this book I was excited! Family devotion time can be a snooze for some families especially when they have a wide range of ages in the family. Not so these devotions. Each devotion is one page long. It starts with a prayer and then moves on to the "Appetiser" which is a game or a demonstration of some sort that everyone can participate in. Then the main course is a short idea to get you thinking, followed by Table Talk which is a series of discussion points or questions. The last snippet is "vitamins and minerals" which is a scripture verse that ties it all together. This is a fun way to get everyone involved, even the teenagers.



If you love Adventures in Odyssey, you will enjoy this book of 90 family devotions (3 months worth)!


I received a copy of this book from Tyndale for review. I did not receive and compensation for completing the review. All opinions are my own

Swept Away by Mary Connealy

This is another great story by Mary Connealy! I have been gobbling up her books since the very first one and waiting with great anticipation for the next installment. I love her sense of humor! I hope I am still around ten years from now and Mary is still writing books because they just get better and better. This one is even better than all the previous ones. She has refined her art and this one just sings!


This book is the first in the Trouble in Texas series. Luke Stone is working with his war buddies to recover the ranch that was stolen from him. He finds Ruthy MacNeil along the way, half-drowned from being swept away by a flash flood. He takes her along with him for lack of a better plan and she proves to be as big an asset in the plan to recover the ranch as all the former soldiers. This books is a real page-turner and I am now waiting anxiously for book number 2 in this series. Also hoping this book comes out on Audio soon so my daughter can enjoy it too.

The Icecutter's Daughter by Tracie Peterson

Rurik Jorgensen had to leave his Swedish hometown of Lindsborg, KS to go help his Uncle Carl with his furniture making business in Minnesota. In Minnesota, he meets German farm girl Merrill Krause (the Icecutter's daughter) and they are each entranced be the other. Unfortunately, some of Rurik's past arrives in Minnesota to visit him and a lot of unpleasant things happen. Both Rurik and Merrill continue to trust in God for the outcome and all is resolved in the end.


There is so much rich history and tradition in this volume and that alone would make it worth the read, but in addition it is a well-crafted story with wonderful, believable characters and a storyline that won't let you put it down. I just kept reading till I was suddenly at the end an bereft at the loss of the story -- it should have kept on going into infinity. Now I must wait to see if a sequel is in my future, and if so, if I will find out more about these characters and about Merrill's brothers and their future families etc. I almost feel like these characters are friends.


Tracie Peterson has written a wonderful story here and I recommend it to all who love Christian historical fiction and all who just love a great story!


I received a copy of this book from Bethany House to review. I did not receive any compensation for completing this review. All opinions are my own.

Sweet Sanctuary by Kim Vogel Sawyer

Kim Vogel Sawyer is one of my all time favorite authors and I don't think you can improve on perfection but with each book that comes out I realize that she has done just that because each one is even better than the one before. When I looked at the blurb for this one I thought, WWII -- I don't want to read any more WWII stories -- but after all, this was Kim Vogel Sawyer so I decided to soldier on. I am so glad I made that decision. This book is the best one yet. It is about a doctor and nurse who were formerly stationed in Hawaii together and now she (Lydia Eldredge) is in Boston taking care of a child given to her by a dying friend and he (Dr. Micah Hatcher) is in New York being a doctor to immigrants and also doing some top secret work to help save Jewish children in Europe. His brother, a minister, is in Europe and is smuggling the children of Polish Jews into the United States to be adopted by Jewish families in the U.S. Dr. Hatcher receives the children as they come in and takes them to a rabbi who places them. They reconnect and Micah tries to help Lydia, whose little boy is being claimed by his birthfather. The birthfather is addicted to morphine and wants to sell the boy to pay for his habit. The story gets even more interesting from there but I won't spoil it for you. In this book, two people actually accept Jesus as their savior during the course of the story and I thought that was a gutsy inclusion and thought Ms. Sawyer's relating of those two conversions was very well done. I love the current Christian fiction. Authors like Ms. Sawyer are not afraid to take on the real issues of Christianity and tell it like it is without being preachy or stilted. I am hoping this book comes out in Audio version soon so my very busy daughter who loves WWII stories will be able to enjoy this one.