The Sky Beneath My Feet by Lisa Samson - Book Review

What a good book. 

This is the description from the publisher:

Being married to a saint isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Beth's husband won't be joining the family on vacation at the beach this year. He's not even joining them in the house. Instead, Rick has holed up alone in the backyard shed. Nobody knows exactly what he's up to. Maybe he's immersing himself in prayer. Maybe he's lost his mind. Maybe he's even the modern-day prophet or the saint the neighborhood artist imagines him to be. But while "St. Rick" waits for an epiphany, Beth will have to figure out what to do with herself and their teenage sons, possibly for the rest of her life.

What happens next is both uproarious and bittersweet: a peace march turns violent, her son is caught with drugs, and she embarks on an ambitious road trip that turns into something nearly surreal. Will Beth rediscover the idealistic woman she used to be, once upon a time? Can her marriage survive Rick's backyard vigil? Will anything ever be the same? And should it be?

Truthful, comic, heartbreaking, and magical in the very best sense of the word, The Sky Beneath My Feet gently tears the veil off our egos and expectations to reveal the throbbing, redemptive, and achingly beautiful life beyond and within us.

I enjoyed this book. It was neat to have a book where the main character was older with teenagers - facing difficult issues. Many books seem to be romance stories where the boy meets girl and then the story ends. It is nice to have a story that involves characters already married and dealing with life's issues. The book was very well written. Sometimes it was hard to determine what the author's point of view is on an issue --- but at the end the author does a nice wrap up that really ties the whole book together. Beth seems to be searching and trying to discover meaning in her life. I think many of us that gave up our careers to raise children eventually face this issue --- what do we do now that the kids are older and raising them is no longer our job in life. Where do we put our focus? What do we do with our time? A very good book. I recommend reading this one. 

This book was provided for free from Thomas Nelson through Booksneeze. 

Secretly Smitten: Love Changes Everything - Book Review

Secretly Smitten: Love Changes Everything by Kristen Billerbeck, Colleen Coble, Diann Hunt, and Denise Hunter. This is really 4 novelettes all rolled into one book. I really enjoyed the writing and love the story line. I just wish that each of the 4 separate stories had been developed further and the characters story line taken to a further place. I felt that each of the individual stories kind of left you hanging - looking for more info. There is a main story line that involves a mystery of how dog tags were left in Grandma's attic from a man that supposedly died 50 years ago. That storyline is continued and talked about in varying degrees throughout all 4 of the novelettes. The other 4 stories are love stories involving the mother, Anna and her 3 grown daughters, Zoe, Clara, and Tess. The book does refer to characters that we should know about from the first book in the series - I had not read the first book and there were times when I felt like a character just plopped into the book with no introduction. Still, it was a delightful book and I found that once I got into the story I couldn't put it down. 

This book was provided for free from Thomas Nelson through Booksneeze. 

The Reunion by Dan Walsh

The Reunion by Dan Walsh

A great book and a nice tribute to those who have fought for our country. There are people that often we pass right by in our daily life - they have unassuming ways about them and maybe are doing menial jobs - yet at one time these people were heroes. Aaron Miller was a Congressional Metal of Honor recipient and yet now he lives in a humble shed and is the maintenance person at a trailer park. He had suffered post traumatic stress syndrome after returning from the Vietnam War. Very little was done to help our service men at that time. He drank, did drugs, lots his family and ended up living on the streets. Eventually he cleaned himself up but not before he had lost everything that matter to him - his kids and his wife. Now years later he is clean and sober. He has found Christ (and that made all the difference in his life - it saved him) and attends church regularly. Then something unexpected happens - his buddies from the war try to find him. It leads to a reunion with lots of surprises. 

The author writes with a real depth of emotion. I had tears by the end - thankfully they were happy tears as this book has a wonderfully happy ending. Very good book and I highly recommend reading it.