David C. Cook

The Beauty of Community Done Well

December 24, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Do you long for friendships that last longer than life itself? Friends you can count on for anything. Friends who show up no matter how hard or busy your lives are, no matter what kind of suffering any of you are going through?

During her lifetime, Kara Tippetts cultivated her community carefully.She and another member of that community, Jill Lynn Buteyn, teamed up to write about what sharing life with someone going through suffering looks like in the flesh. Kara Tippetts’ suffering was not an easy road. Not for her, her family, or those friends who love her. Her journey with cancer was chronicled on her blog, Mundane Faithfulness, and the blog only expanded her community.

In the book, Buteyn carries the burden of explaining what showing up in suffering looks like and Tippetts offers her own insights at the end of the chapter.

This book was hard to read. There is sadness and sorrow in sharing, as Tippetts calls it, the hard in someone’s life. We want to be able to fix the problem, to offer answers. But that’s not always what God calls us to. Sometimes all our loved one needs is someone to run to the store for them, to do a load or two of laundry for her family, or to simply sit and be still.

After reading this book, I long for a community like this, and now I have a blueprint as how to make it happen. Kara Tippetts loved those around her with a big love. A love that will touch lives well into eternity in heaven as her community rejoicing in seeing her whole and healthy again.

If you know someone who is suffering, if you’re suffering yourself, or if you just long for lasting and meaningful friendships, this book is a resource filled with practical and specific insights, observations, and suggestions. Just be sure and leave the tissue box near!

Just show up is available at your local Family Christian or online

***David C. Cook and Family Christian provided me with a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Take and Give (and Pass it On)

September 2, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Have you ever finished a book in a series and immediately wanted to dive into the next one? That’s exactly what I did with Amanda G. Steven’s second and third books in the Haven Seekers series. I read the first book about a year ago. Then I saw the third book available for us reviewers and got approved. Boy, am I thankful I made the decision to read book two (Found and Lost) before delving into Take and Give.

First of all, if you have not read any of this series, while you won’t be completely lost if you pick these up out of order, you will definitely get more from them if you do read them in the order they were written. Each book is written from two people’s points of view, but a different two people in each book with others making appearances.

Found and Lost wowed me. For so many reasons (but more about that in a bit).

Upon learning of her best friend’s arrest and presumed death, Lee Vaughn continues to fight the system in her own way by providing medical treatment for Christians. With the help of eighteen-year-old Violet and a friend in the Constabulary, her practice is running well. Austin has searched for his girlfriend for four months with no forward progress. When his superior in the Constabulary tests him, Austin is shocked to learn that Marcus Brenner is alive….barely.

As circumstances bring Lee, Marcus, Violet, and Austin together and force them to flee Michigan, their relationships are tested. Violet no longer trusts Austin, Marcus’s illness hinders their ability to move quickly, and Lee’s control (something she values) is taken from her.

This. Book. I want to say so much about this book but don’t want to give details away. Let’s just say this. Getting to peek inside Lee’s head and see her thoughts and feelings was worth the journey to get here in the other two books. In book one (Seek and Hide) readers get to see Marcus and Lee together from Marcus’s perspective. Now, they get to examine the opposite side of the coin.

Each of the characters in this book is dealing with some kind of abuse. And each struggles to overcome those events in different ways. My heart hurt for these people at times. The personal and relational walls that are erected because of these experiences are elemental in the lives of these four people.

And best of all? Well, I am a fan of romance. There is more romantic development in this book. We’re not quite there yet, but I can see it on the horizon.

I cannot wait for book four!

***David C. Cook provided me with a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.

London Tides by Carla Laureano

June 17, 2015 by Suzie Waltner Leave a Comment

Book number two in the MacDonald trilogy follows the oldest, staid, responsible brother, Ian MacDonald. If you read Five Days in Skye, you probably caught the reference to Ian’s one and only love in his life. As well as the subsequent broken engagement when she walked out on him. It’s been ten years since Grace Brennan left her engagement ring on the kitchen counter and left Ian but she’s back now. And she’s ready to give everything up from him (even her career in conflict photography and her mission to make her brother proud). The problem? Grace has seen so much tragedy, she’s been in the most difficult situations, seen horrific sights. Those aren’t things you can just drop off like your luggage. You can’t unpack the emotional baggage and stuff it in a drawer. Well, you can try but, as Grace finds out, it can only be hidden for so long before it starts to leak into other areas of your life. Ian wants nothing more than to be the man Grace needs, the man Grace turns to when she’s struggling but when she starts to shut herself off for him, his worst fear is that she’ll leave again. And this time it will destroy him.

I have to admit, I didn’t enjoy London Tides as much as Jamie and Andrea’s story (and yay, their wedding is in this book). While I understand Grace’s struggle and her longing to pull herself out of the despair of her path, she felt too focused on herself most of the book. While she wanted to come back for Ian, to stay for Ian, when something in her life didn’t go as planned, she didn’t even talk to him about it. But, to be fair, if you had to manage on your own in war torn countries where you often feared for your life for ten years, you would probably be hesitant to put your trust in anyone as well. And, hey, I’ve lived on my own for twenty plus years and I’m pretty self-centered quite often too because I’m the only one I have to worry about. So, maybe Grace was a little too much like me and that hit home a little bit.

All that said, Laureano did another fantastic job of making me feel like I was walking the streets of London with her characters. The added bonus that the wedding was in Skye so readers are transported back to Scotland for a little while too. The author also drew me into the overwhelming fear of a panic attack the couple times they happened to Grace. And while I felt Grace was selfish, I still had my fingers crossed she and Ian would eventually work everything out and finally get together. Any couple who waits more than ten years for their true loves deserves happiness.

***David C. Cook provided me with a complimentary copy of this book via NetGalley in exchange for an honest and fair review. All opinions expressed are my own.