Anchor in the Storm Waves of Freedom #2 written by Sarah Sundin
My rating: 4.5 / 5 Genre: Historical Christian romance, mystery
When Lillian Avery moves to Boston to be a pharmacist in 1941, she has a long way to go to overcome her boss’s prejudices against her as both a woman and a handicapped one at that. She’s determined to win him over, but her task is made more difficult when suspicious prescriptions come in to be filled. Arch Vandenburg, naval ensign serving aboard a battleship, has some questions of his own when some of the men on his ship are acting drowsy on duty. Lillian and Arch will have to work together to get to the bottom of what’s going on in Boston.
After finding the first book in this series only okay, I was pleased to enjoy this one all the way through. Arch was in the previous book, the best friend of the male main character. He came across as a bit of a player, at least to me, but Sundin was already setting up his backstory, his baggage. As the heir to a fortune, Arch tends to attract the wrong kind of woman, which has led to trust issues. Lillian has her own version of the same, having been hurt badly in the past by a man who was controlling and at least a little abusive. The progression of their relationship is mostly natural and sweet, though it also becomes a little predictable about halfway through the book. Despite some clichés (and more kissing than I need in a romance book), the backstories and personalities are well set up, and I enjoyed the follow-through.
My preference when reading romance is that it not be the only focus of the plot, and I got my wish with this book. The mystery side, while not exactly a twisty whodunit, was intriguing and kept me engaged. When the romance went the way of cliché, the mystery sped up a bit, which evened things out for me. I was really caught up in it by the end. I also want to mention that Arch’s best friend Jim, the male MC of the previous book, is also Lillian’s brother. And there is a moment in the book where Arch does/says something really stupid and Jim reacts exactly how I wanted to react. I practically cheered! I recommend this book for fans of Christian romance, especially those set during WWII.
Three Act Tragedy Hercule Poirot #11 by Agatha Christie read by Hugh Fraser
My rating: 4.5 / 5 Genre: Classic mystery
This Poirot mystery was quite a departure from the previous ones, in that much of the investigating is done without Poirot around—at least the investigating that we get to see. Poirot comes in during the last 3rd or so of the book to throw a wrench into the ideas of the people who had taken it upon themselves to try to get to the bottom of the recent deaths. The story really kept me on my toes. In some ways, I feel like I’m starting to get a feel for Agatha Christie’s way of creating a mystery, which leads me to take more outlandish guesses as to the solution than I probably otherwise would. But since I don’t really ever guess at the motive, I don’t feel particularly vindicated if I end up being right. And I was only part right about the killer in this case anyway. I’ve begun to enjoy these stories a lot more than I did early in the series, and I still appreciate the narration by Hugh Fraser. And bonus, this book left me with a laugh right at the end.
I’m not going to pretend that I went into this book with an open mind. The subject matter and the little bit I heard from the author in a video threw up so many red flags, but I read the book because my sister told me she was reading it to help her through some difficulties in her life. The author posits that a lack of self-love is at the root of many (even most) people’s mental health struggles and relationship issues. This is a super-boiled-down explanation, but I don’t want to take a long time to explain, nor do I want to spend much time on this review, lest it turn into a rant. The truth is, it is very difficult for me to put words to my concerns about this point of view and this book, but I felt uneasy throughout most of it. The author does quickly lay to rest the immediate thought that telling people that they need to love themselves more will lead them to become self-centered, but on the other hand, when he gets to the part about putting the ideas from this book into action, it’s very self-centered.
One of the biggest things I questioned by the end of this book is where God really fits into this. Sure, the author talks about God and about the Bible plenty, even quoting some verses. But it’s almost exclusively about God loving us (it’s right there in the title), and almost zero mention of us loving God. In fact, while I was reading, I highlighted this quote: “God will love you, even if you decide to never serve him!” and asked, “Though if that’s the case, does the person really love God?” Yes, God doesn’t require us to serve him in order for us to be saved—that’s the entire basis of salvation by grace vs. works. But if we truly love God, we will want to serve Him, and at no point is that really discussed in this book. It’s also contradictory, in that one of the ways the author says to start loving yourself more is by helping others, yet multiple times the book says that helping others when you don’t love yourself enough can lead to burnout.
The author also quotes Ephesians 5:28 (“In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself.”) but conveniently stops without ever addressing verse 29 (“After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church…”). The author maintains that it’s difficult to love others as we love ourselves when we don’t or don’t know how to love ourselves, yet Paul states that we generally love ourselves enough to keep ourselves alive. DeJesus actually sees the “as you love yourself” part as a command, but it seems more like a given to me. I understand that some people do harm themselves and that there are plenty of people with psychological issues that involve self-hate, but I think this whole thing is more nuanced than the author allows for in this book. In fact, so much of this book was repetitive and thus felt shallow.
I don’t know if the intended audience for this book is everyone or specifically Christians. It seemed like it was targeted at Christians most of the time, but when it tells us that we need to “[position] ourselves for being filled up with God’s love,” I question why I wouldn’t already be filled with God’s love, if I’ve accepted Christ as my savior. Maybe what the author means is that we need to let ourselves “feel” God’s love more, but that opens up a whole new argument for me, since “feeling” God’s love is not always possible or easy for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t believe 100% that God loves me. I’m also not really sure where sin enters into this, since more than once, DeJesus posits that self-love means accepting yourself with no strings attached. While I understand that God doesn’t want us to constantly live in shame over past sins, I feel like this removes the conviction of current sins. Even “lawlessness” as referenced in Matthew 24:12, NKJV (“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will growcold.”) is attributed to broken hearts that cause us to fall into “darkness and destructive behaviors.” Maybe I’m nitpicking, but it feels like we’re glossing over sin here.
Some of DeJesus’s suggestions for how to begin to love oneself more made alarm bells ring in my head, since it feels too close to being New Age practices for me. At the very least, the suggested meditating, breathing in the spirit while breathing out toxicity, even words of affirmation, almost completely leave God out of the equation, instead focusing on myself.
Sadly, I completely understand why this book speaks to some people in their need, but I would have a difficult time believing that this way of thinking can affect lasting change. There is a chapter or so that I thought made some good points, but for the most part, it just felt empty to me. Granted, I’m definitely not its target audience, because though I don’t think I’d ever have described myself as being full of self-love, when I struggle with feeling worthless or unloved, I don’t hesitate to seek God through prayer and Bible reading. This book reminded me a lot of what I don’t care for about modern worship music. Generally speaking, there are a lot of songs about how broken we are, how God loves us right where we are, etc., and while none of that is false, I don’t think we’re meant to camp in that mindset. It’s important to spend time loving God, praising God, not just for what He has done for us, but for who He is—the power, wonder, majesty of His being. Maybe focusing more on how awesome He is, is really what we need to put things into perspective and boost our own moods. Like Job said in the depths of his despair, wishing he’d never been born, after God put things into perspective for him: “I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth. I spoke once, but I have no answer—twice, but I will say no more.” Job’s circumstances hadn’t gotten better (yet), but he knew that God was so much bigger than he could ever understand, and maybe that’s something we have forgotten in our modern world.
I guess I did end up spending a while on this review. There was just too much I wanted to say, and this only includes a portion of the highlights and notes I made while reading. It probably goes without saying, but I don’t recommend this book to anyone; I simply don’t think there’s enough substance, or the right substance, to be worthwhile.
2024 was a fairly standard year of reading overall, minus the push in February and March to read shorter books that were outside my norm, in order to get more entries into a local library reading challenge. But I kinda made up for that in April, when I burned out a little and read a lot less.
I read 153 books in 2024, hitting my Goodreads challenge of 150 books (which I raised from 140 in November when I realized how close I was) on December 24th. My total page count was 42,857, making my average book length for the year 280 pages.
Below are the books I read in 2024. The link is to my review for that book, and a link to the book on Goodreads is at the bottom of each review.
This list includes 29 ARCs (marked with a *) and 20 re-reads (marked with a **). During the last year, I started 20 series and finished 12 series, caught up on 2 series (meaning the author plans to release more in the future), and decided not to continue 4 series (after being at least 2 books into the series). I currently have 13 series in progress. I also DNF’d 1 book (not listed anywhere in this post).
Here is a break-down of the ratings I gave (minus some re-reads whose rating I didn’t count again):
1 star: 1
1.5 stars: 1
2 stars: 7
2.5 stars: 4
3 stars: 22 3.25 stars: 1
3.5 stars: 12
4 stars: 50
4.5 stars: 7
5 stars: 40
Average rating: 3.9
I spaced on posting a top-ten post about my favorite books from the year, so I’ll just list my top 5 here (in order of when I read them, not of preference): A Beautiful Disguise by Roseanna M. White Masterminds by Gordon Korman The Raven by Mike Nappa Sudden Death by David Rosenfelt Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Though I did read 150 books, I know that has a lot to do with the reading challenge at my local library early in the year. I’ll stick with 140 books for this year’s goal for the Goodreads challenge. This number is already only achievable if I read a lot of shorter children’s books, which is always my plan, just maybe not as many as I read last year.
My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here. I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads, if anyone is interested in that.
What did you read last year? Let me know in the comments, and even feel free to link to your own summary post!
I read 13 books last month, which is right at what my monthly average ended up being for 2024. The number would have been much smaller, though, if I hadn’t had so much time to listen to audiobooks throughout December. Between Christmas (and Christmas prep) and a couple of longer/harder-to-read books, I got really slowed down in my normal reading time. Still, I hit my Goodreads goal of 150 books (which I raised from 140 in November when I realized how close I was) on the 24th.
This list includes 4 ARCs and 2 re-reads. My favorite book from December was Book Scavenger. I started 1 series, continued 4 series, and finished 2 series*. My ever-changing short list of to-be-reads, as well as a flag for the book I’m currently reading and an ongoing list of those I’ve read and posted about can be found here.
*This includes 1 series I didn’t reach the end of, but decided not to continue reading, after being at least 2 books into the series.
I’m also keeping my Goodreads page updated with a more extensive list of to-be-reads. Despite my almost too-long TBR list, I’m always looking for more to add. Feel free to offer suggestions of your favorites or just recent reads you enjoyed.
Book Scavenger Book #1 by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
My rating: 5 / 5 Genre: Middle grade adventure
Twelve-year-old Emily is a book scavenger. That means she takes part in a game where books are hidden to be found by other scavengers. The only good thing about her family moving (yet again) is that they’re going to San Francisco, which is where the founder of this game, Garrison Griswold, lives. But when Emily’s family gets to San Francisco, she learns that Griswold has been attacked and is in the hospital. Emily and her new friend James find a book hidden near the location of Griswold’s attack and suspect that it was hidden on purpose as part of Griswold’s next big game. But will this discovery make them the next target of Griswold’s attackers?
This book started out feeling a little like the Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series, with the wealthy benefactor of fun games for kids, the heavy book vibe, and puzzles, but add in geo-caching. It certainly takes its own path, though, so I’m not trying to say that it’s just like Lemoncello. In fact, I like this book more than the first Lemoncello, which is saying something. Besides the puzzles, reading, and hunting, this book includes wonderful themes of family, home, and friendship.
Emily and her brother remind me a little of my own kids, even though the age gap is very different. Emily and Matthew used to go book scavenging together, before Matthew got interested in other things; my kids have often gone geo-caching together. Our family has gone together a couple of times now, in fact, and it’s a lot of fun! So I had a pretty good frame of reference for the book scavenging game. And Emily’s new friendship with James—and Steve!—is the heart of the book.
There are moments in this book that are probably a little unrealistic, but who cares? In fact, some of those were some of my favorite moments in the book! I loved this book so much and highly recommend it to kids aged around 10-14 (my now-14-year-old daughter loved it when read it a year or more ago as well) but also for teens and even adults who enjoy books and puzzles.
The Sign of the Twisted Candles Nancy Drew Mystery Stories #9 by Carolyn Keene read by Danica Reese
My rating: 2 / 5 Genre: Children’s classic mystery
Nancy gets involved in another mystery when she learns that a man’s 100th birthday is going to be ignored. The man’s relatives are waiting for him to die so they can get their inheritance, while others are taking matters into their own hands and siphoning off some of the man’s possessions early. Meanwhile, there’s a young woman caught up in the plot, who Nancy befriends and whose life Nancy turns around. It’s all a bit much for me, and some of it feels too much like at least parts of previous plots. (Does Nancy ever help a young man in need, or is it only ever women who are being taken advantage of or in some kind of messy situation?) To make matters worse, the young woman, Carol, tends to act a bit whiny and acts as if Nancy is the best thing on the planet. If I had to hear, “Oh, Nancy…” one more time…
The narration has gone completely downhill since Laura Linney’s narration ended (though this one was a bit better than the previous), and there’s only 1 more in this series that even has an audiobook (at least at my library). I think this is a good place to end my trip through the series, since I have a difficult time with the repetitiveness and Nancy as the most awesome, kind, beautiful, and generous person to ever walk the earth anyway. I guess I could handle it more with decent narration, so if they get Laura Linney to do some more, maybe I’ll listen to more. Or maybe they can get Lani Minella to narrate some! I’d be down for that.
Leader of the Pack Andy Carpenter #10 by David Rosenfelt read by Grover Gardner
My rating: 5 / 5 Genre: Mystery
A visit to a client whose case Andy lost years in the past turns into Andy and wonder dog Tara visiting the client’s uncle, an elderly crime family member, for a dog therapy session. Andy is surprised when the old man makes comments about his nephew in jail that turn Andy onto a new track for his client’s defense case. When people related to this new line of investigation begin dying, Andy believes he just may be onto something.
This book follows a similar formula to the previous books in the series, with the exception of the way that Andy comes across his new case (which is one of the main things that varies most from book to book anyway). The case is as twisty as normal, though the stakes and destruction are considerably higher this time. I particularly enjoyed Sam in this book, and enigmatic Marcus is always nice to have around. Even Hike made me smile a time or two.
The ending, though…not only did it break the formula, I never saw it coming. Things like that keep a series fresh, and though I do find comfort in the formula, I also enjoy a good shaking up. Andy’s wit and snark bring me coming back to these books, and Grover Gardner’s narration brings it to life. I love this series and recommend the book (especially the audio) for fans of mystery, crime fiction, and courtroom dramas.
Leigh Beth Stilton has been abused by men throughout her life and experienced many other horrors as well. She has plans to end her life on Christmas day, but after reading a book by an author she’s never read, she finds the strength to carry on. Fast forward ten years, and a chance encounter with “her author” leads her into a whirlwind of fancy dinners, expensive gifts, and a hectic book tour schedule. Beth and J.D. Harper form a quick connection, but the pain in her past threatens to ruin everything.
First things first—this is not really a Christmas story. It takes place from before Thanksgiving to after Christmas, and some festivities are involved, but they’re really just background. It’s really just a contemporary romance that happens to take place at Christmastime. Not a deal breaker for me, but it’s good to make sure potential readers are aware. Also, you might see this marketed as Christian fiction in some places. It’s not. I’ve only read a few of Evans’s other books, but I’ve never gotten the impression that he was a Christian author, or even a Christian who is an author. The book doesn’t mention God once, unless you count the explanation of the meaning of the word “Bethel” (house of God). The two main characters become fairly intimate pretty quickly, though it’s pretty vague whether or not they actually sleep together and there’s nothing graphic. And there is a minor character who is somewhat-subtly gay. None of these things would bother me normally, but when the book is listed as Christian fiction (at least on Amazon and NetGalley), it definitely confuses me.
As for the book itself, I found the plot to be shallow and a bit muddled, and I didn’t really connect with the characters. I questioned so many things while I read. For example: Beth’s first name is Leigh (presumably pronounced like “Lee”), but she goes by Beth. So why did she give her name as “Lee” to the barista at Starbucks? Why, to give her the coincidental chance to meet J.D. Harper (whose real name is Lee), of course…though that could have still been worked out without her using her first name that she never uses. And why didn’t Beth recognize J.D./Lee? Sure, his picture isn’t on his books, but apparently his visage is widespread enough on TV and the internet for him to be recognized like crazy when he’s out at restaurants and stores…yet Beth, who has been halfway in love with him for ten years, doesn’t recognize him? I have other examples, but I don’t want to extend the review too much or come across like I’m ranting.
Not a fault of the book, but I don’t really connect with the heavy abuse in both of the characters’ pasts. But more than that, I felt that the romance was hurried and lacked any depth. They connect quickly, but then Lee stars inviting Beth to all sorts of events and even to his home, with barely any time to get to know each other. I guess the romance is mostly supposed to be in Beth falling in love with Lee through his writing, but since we don’t get to read any of his writing, it falls flat for me. In fact, I’d really like to know…anything about his books, especially the one that saved her life. We get only brief glimpses and are basically told that he writes about love so poignantly that he’s a big-name author. Maybe a romance based around the impact of fictional books works for some people, but it didn’t for me.
When I started to realize the little twist that was coming, I thought it might go a different way, but in the end, I did appreciate the way this story ends. It wasn’t nearly enough to salvage the rest of the book for me, though. I also have realized that I don’t really care for Evans’s writing style—I thought before that it was just his YA style, after reading most of the Michael Vey series, but now I know it’s just his style in general. I don’t personally recommend this book for anyone, but if the synopsis sounds interesting to you, please check out other reviews at the link below. They’re way more positive than not (which is pretty normal for me).
Thank you to Netgalley and Gallery Books for providing me a copy of this book to review.
After being a Christian for many years, it’s nice now and then to attempt to slow down and take a look at a well-known, often-heard or portrayed account from the Bible in a new light. That’s what this book promises to do. And indeed, are were several different deep dives into historical context and translation in this book that give insight to aspects of the “Christmas story” that most people may never have heard before. Much of it I have, however, from various sources, including my own recently retired pastor, in his attempts to not preach the same sermons every year at Christmas time. This is not a fault of the book or author, of course, it only means the book is probably better for someone who is newer to Christianity or has simply only viewed the surface of the events surrounding the birth of Christ.
The author makes some assertions about the intentions of biblical writers (Luke in particular) that I have never heard before; he may have taken some liberties and made some assumptions, but he often states some of these things as fact. I couldn’t help but question some things as I read (which of course we’re supposed to do as Christians). As an example, this quote from chapter 1: “Jesus is brought into being by the creative breath of God’s Spirit.” It seems to imply that Jesus did not exist before Mary conceived, but of course that isn’t true. He was/is God and has existed for eternity. Giving the author the benefit of the doubt, perhaps he only meant to say that Jesus was brought into “earthly existence” by the creative breath of God’s Spirit, and I was nitpicking without intending to. Whatever the case, between this and my notes in the previous paragraph, this book did not quite resonate with me like it was intended to. Because of some of the uncertainties I had about some of what I read, I don’t know that I could, in good conscience, recommend this book to anyone, but I will say that if you do read it, be sure to go to the Scriptures to verify anything you’re not certain of (which, again, you should do with anything that a fallible human professes about God or the Bible).
Thank you to Netgalley and WaterBrook & Multnomah for providing me a copy of this book to review.
A Journey of Words 