Genre: Christian

His Name is Grace by H. G. Davis

Published on by Charli

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

This book may contain material that is disturbing to some readers. Please Google for a full list of trigger warnings. Thank you!
His Name is Grace by H. G. DavisHis Name is Grace by H. G. Davis
Published by Self-Published on 10/18/2021
Genres: Christian, Mystery, Thrillers & Suspense
Pages: 152
Format: eARC
Source: NetGalley
Amazon // Barnes & Noble

Allison was just a little girl when she lost her life. And her family lost so much more...

Her father, John can't live with himself since he is the reason she is dead. And now that his son has been murdered he has given into a deep and dark rage. One that his wife suffers the brunt of.

With two of their three children dead, and the only living one, Erik, being accused of the death of his brother, the parents' lives are shattered. Once an everyday family, since moving out to Idaho their lives are slowly falling apart. The lies, the affair, the murder have all taken their toll.

However, some survive and are given another chance at life. This is a story of how grace can save us from ourselves

Sometimes you just need a quick read to get yourself back into the spirit of reading, and His Name is Grace by H. G. Davis was a perfect quick read to do that for me. At just 152 pages (1,795 locations on Kindle), I was able to read this book in just about 3 hours. It was fast paced, easy to read, and difficult to put down.

The formatting of this story is interesting. You’d think it’d focus on the actual mystery, but for the most part, it doesn’t. It focuses more on the secrets that the family of the deceased are keeping. Which isn’t to say it is a bad story, because it absolutely isn’t. I’m just not sure I would have categorized it as a mystery/thriller when it doesn’t really focus too much on that aspect, unless you consider all the secrets to be mystery/thriller material.

However, the book was very good – I wanted to know if the accused really had murdered his brother and if not who had. I also wanted to know how it happened and why the accused thought he’d done it if he hadn’t. I also wanted to know how many of the people knew about the others’ secrets.

The characters were interesting enough, although I didn’t feel any particular connection to any of them. Perhaps it was all the secrets. I will say though, that one character in particular, Jake, seemed a bit more cunning toward the end of the book than was being let on at first, making me wonder who was the real murderer… but you’ll have to read the book to find out what I mean.

A quick, easy read that gets 4.5 stars from me.

All in All Journaling Devotional by Sophie Hudson

Published on by Charli

I received an advance copy of this book from B&H Books to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

All in All Journaling Devotional by Sophie HudsonAll in All Journaling Devotional by Sophie Hudson
Published by B&H Publishing Group on August 1, 2017
Genres: Christian, Devotional & Prayer, Inspirational, Inspirational & Personal Growth, Religious, Young Adult Nonfiction
Pages: 304
Format: Hardcover
Source: B&H Books
Goodreads

Wherever you are, let Jesus be your all.    Written by popular author and blogger Sophie Hudson, this beautiful devotional journal for teens and young women reminds you that Jesus is your All in All—over all, through all, and in all that you do.   As you dig in to Sophie's words and wit, you'll better understand the wholeness and freedom that come from a life filled with Jesus. Each of the 100 devotions is followed by journaling prompts that will get you writing, keep you thinking, and help you grab all the goodness He has waiting for you.

When I chose to review this journaling devotional, I did so because I thought it was unique. I have several devotionals laying around the house, but none of them are particularly “interactive” where you would actually answer questions, write out your thoughts or feelings, or even really think about possibly praying about what you’d read. They’re just little blurbs by this or that author – some of them are about strong women of faith, others are different “insights” about Christ’s love for us and our walk with Christ. But none of them had the journaling aspect to them.

I wasn’t disappointed. “All in All” is a 100 day devotional geared toward teen girls. It features a devotional, scripture readings, and a place to answer questions, write out your thoughts and feelings, and even a place each day to write out the day’s prayers. If you want to be able to use the devotional for multiple girls, I’d suggest giving each girl who will be using it a notebook or journal to write in instead of writing in the book – or buying one for each girl.

I would definitely recommend this book for anyone looking for a good devotional for a teen girl. I agree with some of the responses on Goodreads – I’d like to see a version for women as well.

Know Who You Are | Live Like it Matters by Tim Tebow and A.J. Gregory

Published on by Charli

I received an advance copy of this book from Waterbrook Multnomah to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Know Who You Are | Live Like it Matters by Tim Tebow and A.J. GregoryKnow Who You Are. Live Like It Matters. by Tim Tebow
Published by Crown Publishing Group on May 16, 2017
Genres: Christian, Inspirational, Juvenile Nonfiction, Religious, Self-Esteem & Self-Reliance, Social Topics
Pages: 208
Format: Paperback
Source: Waterbrook Multnomah
Goodreads

American sports icon Tim Tebow shares how he faces pressure head-on and the wisdom he’s learned—not from what the world says, but from what God says in His Word The world does not define you Nobody said your life would be easy. And the older you get, the more difficult it seems to become. Deep down you may know your value as a person isn’t defined by wearing cool name-brand clothes, scoring points for a sports team or even by having a huge number of social media followers. And you’re right! Your identity resides in something—in fact, Someone—much greater than anything this world can offer: the only identity worth having . . . is found in Jesus Christ! Tim Tebow will guide you through thirty-six weeks of lessons, each based on a key Scripture, to discover who you are—by learning more about whose you are! You’ll have the opportunity to write down your thoughts, feelings, and ideas on topics such as:• Building godly character• Maintaining great relationships• Standing out from the crowd• Doing things that matter in the big picture Get ready to live bigger than ever before . . . with your faith and identity secure in a God who loves you beyond measure!

If anyone thinks this book is *just* for home schooled children, they’d be wrong. This book is actually good for any teen, and even good for some adults to be honest. The fact the Tim Tebow was home schooled is most likely the reason behind him determining the book would be for home schooled kids.

This book gives 36 helpful weekly lessons on figuring out who you are and how following the Lord can make your life better. Each lesson comes with a writing exercise to encourage the reader to think about the lesson that was provided. While I read the book in 2 days because I wasn’t following the lesson plan, I would be more than willing to go back through the book and do the writing exercises.

36 weeks is equal to approximately one school year, so parents can use this book during their curriculum if they home school or just as a weekly study for their kids in general. I think this book is an excellent tool for helping kids find their faith and figure out who they are in Christ.

I also think that new Christians might benefit from this book, even though it is geared towards teens. It can be hard to figure out who you are in Christ at any age, especially if you’ve grown up in a family where faith is not a big part of your life.

Tim gives good, solid accounts of when he was a child/teen and how situations were handled. He admits he made and makes mistakes, something that it is good for anyone to see – that nobody is perfect.

This was a solid 4 star read and I have to say, I’ll probably be going back through the book and doing the writing exercises for myself.

Unlimited by Davis Bunn

Published on by Charli

I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley to facilitate my review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Unlimited by Davis BunnUnlimited by Davis Bunn
Published by B&H Publishing Group on September 1, 2013
Genres: Action & Adventure, Christian, Fiction, General, Media Tie-In
Pages: 320
Format: ARC
Source: NetGalley
Goodreads

Simon Orwell is a brilliant student whose life has taken a series of wrong turns. At the point of giving up on his dreams, he gets a call from an old professor who has discovered a breakthrough in a device that would create unlimited energy, and he needs Simon's help.
But once he crosses the border, nothing goes as the young man planned. The professor has been killed and Simon is assaulted and nearly killed by members of a powerful drug cartel.
Now he must take refuge in the only place that will help him, a local orphanage. There, Simon meets Harold Finch, the orphanage proprietor who walked away from a lucrative career with NASA and consulting Fortune 500 companies to serve a higher cause.
With Harold's help, Simon sets out on a quest to uncover who killed the professor and why. In due time, he will discover secrets to both the worldchanging device and his own unlimited potential.

At first glance you’d never know this was a Christian fiction story. The way the book starts out, you’d think you had started your ordinary, run of the mill action/adventure/mystery novel. But as you go on, you see sprinklings of why this is a Christian fiction story.

The story was a very good one–and I admit that the mark of Christianity is not over done so the reader isn’t feeling left bombarded by calls to become a Christian as often happens with books that contain members who aren’t yet a Christian. In fact, while the Christianity in the book is obvious, it shouldn’t make anyone uncomfortable if they simply wanted to read a good book.

This book moves fairly quickly, which is nice. There isn’t a lot of superfluous writing here–no lengthy descriptions of inconsequential things, just good solid storytelling. I kept wondering who was the mysterious “Jefe” and honestly I had the wrong person pegged, which is actually kind of unusual for me. I have to say, this book deserves every one of the four stars I gave it.