All Saints

I've been looking forward to reading this book for a while, I've both read about the book from various websites, and seen previews of the movie of it as well, and had some high expectations of this book! I was not disappointed! Sometimes you find that books based on true stories tend to flow not as easily as other books, and it's a struggle to get into a good reading rhythm with them.  However "All Saints" did not have that problem, the book flowed very well together, the characters were easy to like and they felt quite relatable as well! As the Pastor's wife of a small church, I really could understand some of the struggles the church faced, and absolutely loved that Pastor Michael and his congregation decided to step out of what was comfortable and take a risk to follow what God had for them! I think the dynamics of our churches are different in these days, we no longer view our mission field from far away, the mission field has come to us, and this book really spoke well to taking that opportunity to reach out and minister in a new way! I truly would recommend that anyone who pastors or goes to a small or struggling church pick up a copy of this book, you be both encourage and challenged by it!!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."

The promise of dawn

I've been a fan of Lauraine Snelling's books for a while now, I really enjoy books set in the past, and that show the strength of families overcoming the difficulties of travelling to new lands. Snelling has a great way in her writings to bring the reader easily into the lives of her characters, and paints such a great picture of their lives and situations that it's hard not to feel involved in the characters lives! In "The promise of dawn" we read about Rune and Signe, who immigrate to America to help their uncle with his farm. Upon arriving they discover how difficult and hard their relatives are to both live and work with. As they struggle every day to survive the harsh life their uncle has provided them, they also struggle to see eye to eye on both faith and life.
I really appreciated that Snelling included and wrote about Signe and her struggle with her faith, I find that a character is more relatable when they're written to show that they struggle with doubt and disbelief.  In all, I thought this was a fantastic book and can't wait to read more from this series!!

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc."