Within My Heart by Tamera Alexander

Rachel Boyd is a widow and mother to two young boys. She spends her days trying to maintain the ranch that was her late husbands dream. The reality is that keeping the ranch is becoming more difficult every day. When not working on the ranch, she helps her good friends, Ben and Lyda Mullins, at their general store. When Ben becomes ill, Rachel is forced to trust the new physician in town, Dr. Rand Brookston. Rand has always admired Rachel, especially her gift with medicine. He can never get to know her better as she as always avoided him. Now that he is treating Ben, will he get the chance to earn her trust and her love? Rachel is an amazing woman who is strong willed and determined. When faced with financial woes of running the ranch, she becomes business savvy to try to keep the ranch afloat. But will her distrust of doctors keep her from getting a chance to love again? Read this book and you'll find out.


Forgiveness, personal struggles, learning to trust, and second chances. There are a lot of different themes that are covered in Tamera Alexander's book "Within My Heart", but forgiveness and a second chance at life are central to the story line. This was a great story that kept you reading to find out what happened at the end.

This book is the last book in a series by Tamera Alexander. This was the first book of this author that I have read and it definitely will not be my last. I am usually hesitant to read a book in a series without having read the other books due to the possibility of not being able to follow the story. The author does an amazing job of introducing the characters so you really grasp the story line. You can easily read this book and enjoy it without having read the other books in the series.

The Lord's Prayer by R.T. Kendall

The Lord's Prayer is the most well known prayer by Christians. It is a prayer that most of us have memorized and say regularly, but do we really know what it means? R.T. Kendall's book "The Lord's Prayer: Insight and Inspiration to Draw You Closer to Him" does really good job of explaining why the Lord's Prayer is a perfect prayer, when to pray it, and the purpose of it. I really like that he spent a chapter on each verse of the prayer, going into a lot of detail.

I did not grow up regularly saying the Lord's Prayer, but I was familar with the words. This book really brought a lot of insight into not only this specific prayer, but in how God wants us to pray. Jesus gave the disciples this prayer when they asked him to show them how to pray. It was "to show them how to speak and listen to the Father". While we can pray the Lord's Prayer verbatim, it is also a model or pattern prayer to use in our everday prayers. This book will really transform how you pray. Not just when you say the Lord's Prayer, but in how you pray everyday.


This book was sent to me by Bethany House Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed are my own.

"Captivating:Unveiling the Mystery of a Woman's Soul" by John and Stasi Eldredge

This has been a book I had been wanting to read for years. I had heard good reviews from John Eldridge's book "Wild at Heart" and was looking forward to this book. I started reading this book a couple of months ago, and it took me a while to work my way through it. Each chapter was slow to read. This is not a book that can be easily read in a weekend. It took me a couple of months to get through this book. Overall, this book was ok. The book is inteded to look at a woman's heart and soul and tried to address some of the issues that women deal with. Most women have a lot of baggage that we carry around due to our life experiences. I would even dare say that many women have been hurt to a point that they think that can not be used for God. This book tries to show women how the past hurts effect us and how we really are beautiful and loved by God.

There were are few issues that I had with this book. There is an overuse of movie quotes. To make a point or to help the reader have a better picture of what the authors are trying to say, they use a scene from a well known movie. This really loses its effect on the book. Some of these scenes are from movies that do not reflect Christian values. I think the authors should have used either women from the Bible or real life stories. This might have helped illustrate their point better. Also, they seem to take random scriptures out of context.

I'm sure this book will be very helpful for some women. Personally, I think this book has a lot of flaws and it really effects the readability of this book. I was really disappointed with this book and will probably not read any other books by the authors.

This book was sent to me by Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed are my own.

The Butterfly Effect by Andy Andrews

"The Butterfly Effect" is the newest book out by Andy Andrews. It is a short gift book but filled with a powerful story. It will probably take you ten minutes to read, but it will be a book you will want to read over and over. The book got it's name from the theory by Edward Lorenz that "A butterfly could flap its winds and set molecules of air in motion, which would move other molecules of air, in turn moving more molecules of air--eventually capable of starting a hurricane on the other side of the planet." Applying this theory to humans, what would be the outcome of decisions that we make? Is it possible that the small decisions that we make could greatly impact the life of someone else? Is it possible that these decisions could change the world?

"The Butterfly Effect" tells real life stories that changed the course of history. It shows how the decisions we make really do matter. My favorite quote from the book really hits home. "Every single thing you do matters. You have been created as one of a kind. You have been created in order to make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world."

"The Butterfly Effect" is available today, Wednesday, September 7! This is the perfect book to give as gifts and perfect to leave on your coffee table. This book could change your life and ultimately change the world.


This book was sent to me by Thomas Nelson Publisher as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed are my own.

Love Is A Flame Compiled by James Stuart Bell

Love is a Flame is a compiled book of stories of marriage and how love can be rekindled in a marriage even after the most difficult situations. We all have this concept that if we love each other that marriage will be easy. If only marriage was that simple. The truth is marriage is hard and there are many disappointments that go along with the vow to love and cherish. You might never have expected your spouse to be a workaholic or to have that affair. You probably didn't expect your spouse to struggle with sexual sin or to simply not communicate his/her feelings. How about unreasonable expecations you have for your spouse or expecting your spouse to meet all your needs? How do you restore a marriage after you've been hurt by your spouse? Is it even possible? James Stuart Bell tells the stories of couples who have been through some difficult situations and had to deal with some major hurts. Most importantly, he tells the story of how that couple was able to restore their marriage and rekindle the love. I think that part is so important for people to know. That it is possible. It might not be easy, but the marriage can be saved. And what happens after restoration is a marriage that is even stronger and even better than before.

This is a great book of stories of the real struggles that real couples face. At the end of each story, the author ends with a few words of his own. I really think that this is a great book for all married couples to read and probably to read on a regular basis. There is so much wisdom that can be gained from hearing of other's struggles and how they overcame. Most importantly, I think this book will really give encouragement and hope to marriages that are currently struggling and possibly thinking of the "D" word.

This book was sent to me by Bethany House Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed are my own.

No More Christian Nice Girl by Paul Coughlin & Jennifer Degler

"No More Christian Nice Girl: When Just Being Nice-Instead of Good- Hurts You, Your Family, and Your Friends" bu Paul Coughlin & Jennifer D. Degler, Ph.D.

Christian women can really get in a habit of being too nice. I think there is a stigma that we have to be all and do all for others or else we are just not being a good Christian. We get in a rut of feeling obligated to say "yes" to anyone that needs help and serve on every committee at church. What happens is we get over worked and over stressed. This ends up hurting not only ourselves, but our family and close relationships.

There is a way out of the "People Pleasing" rut. This book offers some good and practical advice to first see why we Christian women feel these obligations to "be nice" and then offers some good suggestions. I really like that they tell stories of a Christian Nice Girl and a Christian Good Girl. This really helps the reader to see themselves in the Christian Nice Girl's pleasing habits and learn to make changes. This book does a great job of really showing how setting boundaries and our expectations of ourselves can help us really live out our Christian faith and still be a great witness for Christ.

I think this is a good starter book for women who are pleasers. I would suggest that if you want further reading on this topic to consider reading Kevin Leman's book "Women Who Try To Hard" and Cloud and Townsend's book "Boundaries". These books really focus on how to set boundaries (and why they are necessary) and to learn to be a positive pleaser.

This book was sent to me by Bethany House Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinion expressed is my own.

She Walks In Beauty by Siri Mitchell

Set during New York's gilded age, "She Walks in Beauty" shows the pressure young women faced to meet family expectations of marrying well. They not only had to learn appropriate social etiquette, but also secret fan gestures, proper dance steps, and wear that torturous corset. This story follows Clara Carter as she is forced into the social season a year early just so she can try to win the hand of one of the wealthiest heirs. Clara had dreams of going to college and had secretly hoped to skip the social season all together.

Amazingly, Clara goes from a shy girl to a beautiful, confident woman. She becomes the societies hottest debutante and has a really good shot at securing a proposal from the most sought after bachelor. But Clara is also a romantic, and struggles with following her family's demands or following her heart.

This book will make you think about true beauty. During this period of time, there was so much focus on looking outwardly beautiful even if there were health consequences. This is eerily similar to the period of time that we are living in now. It is amazing what we will do to look and feel beautify when it is inner beauty that really should define us.

This was one of the best fiction books that I have read in awhile. Once I started reading, I could not put the book down. I will definitely be reading more of Siri Mitchell's books.

This book was sent to me by Bethany House Publishers as part of their book review program. I was sent a free copy of this book to review. I was not required to write a positive review and the opinions expressed are my own.