Between Shades of Gray || Ruta Septeys

Title: Between Shades of Gray

Author: Ruta Sepetys

Length: 344 pages

Publication date: March 22, 2011

Genre: YA historical fiction

Rating: 5/5

When I finished reading Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys, I made a comment to my husband that my heart was not okay. He asked why I felt like that, and I had to think about it for a moment. I think it's because the effect this story had on me reaches farther than just a fictional story.

I find myself constantly reaching for stories set in WWII, and most of them take place in Nazi Germany. This one was a first for me. This book is from the point of view from Lina, a 15 year old girl living in Lithuania in 1941, which is when Stalin was in power of the Soviet Union. Lina's family ends up getting deported for "crimes" against the Union, and they are put on trains headed to labour camps in Siberia. This is a story of their survival amidst the most deplorable and loathsome conditions, and them holding on to hope of being able to go home soon.

Sometimes I try to figure out why I like to read these kinds of stories so often. Of course, they are based on real life occurrences, and to read about the evil ways these people were treated makes me sick. It breaks my heart to think about how people are able to convince themselves that certain groups are not even human anymore and treat them worse than animals. (Reminds me of our society's attitude toward abortion, but this isn't about that.) It's just horrible to think about, and yet to see how Lina's family and their group of people banded together was so incredibly beautiful. In the midst of inhuman conditions, they showed each other such kindness. They banded together and became a fortress among themselves, and it was so beautiful.

This book was incredible, just incredible, and I want everyone to read it now. I could go on and on, but I want to you experience it for yourself. I borrowed this from this library and I'm going to be buying a copy for myself, this is something I can see myself reading again and again.

I love you, Friday

Hi friends! It's Friday! I am excited about it! Last weekend we were out of the house basically all weekend, so nothing got done around the house. I mean, we were either at church or with family last weekend, so that was all good, but my poor house needs a clean. So my plans for this weekend include giving my house a good cleaning, doing laundry, and all of that fun stuff.

Of course, I also have some actual fun plans too. Tonight is home-made pizza and movie night with Chris. Tomorrow, after I'm done my cleaning, I plan to film a bunch of videos for my YouTube channel, and get one or two edited. In the evening we are going to hang out with some friends, and if I have time in between I'll probably just do some reading.

On Sunday after church Chris is going golfing with his dad and brother, so I will enjoy my solitude in my house with a good book, maybe some letters. I'm slooowly getting back into writing letters, and it's been fun.

What I'm reading this weekend: Fire by Kristin Cashore. This is the second book in the Seven Realms trilogy, the first book being Graceling. This is an excellent fantasy series, I'm highly enjoying it so far!

This week I have been obsessed with tiny homes. Don't ask why, but for some reason I just really want to live in a tiny house now. We watched a documentary on Netflix, called TINY: A Story About Living Small, and it was quite good. Today I've been watching videos on YouTube about tiny homes. Some good channels are relaxshacksDOTcom, Tiny House Giant Journey, Living Big in a Tiny Home, and Kristen Dirksen, they have tons of tours of tiny homes. Also this one is amazing and I would live in it in a heartbeat.

What are your plans for the weekend? Leave a comment and let me know!

At the Water's Edge || Sara Gruen

Title: At the Water's Edge

Author: Sara Gruen

Length: 348 pages

Publication date: January 1, 2015

Genre: Adult historical fiction

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

Madeline Hyde, a young socialite from Phiadelphia, reluctantly follows her husband and their best friend to the tiny village of Drumnadrochit in search of a mythical monster - at the same time that a very real monster, Hitler, wages war against the Allied Forces. What Maddie discovers - about the larger world and about herself - through the unlikely friendships she develops with the villagers, opens her eyes not only to the dark forces that exist around her but to the beauty and surprising possibilities. (summary from Netgalley)

I am a sucker for fiction set in WWII, so this sounded like it would be right up my alley. Unfortunately, it didn't really do the trick for me. For the majority of the book, it felt like nothing was happening. It felt like the author didn't know what kind of book she wanted to write, so she mixed a few different books together, which made things feel disconnected at times. The characters felt flat for me for most of the book as well. The last third of the book vastly improved, and I actually started to care about what was going on, but it couldn't redeem the rest of the reading experience that much. I've never read anything else by Sara Gruen, but if you like her previous books, you might like this one as well. Overall, I would give this a pass. There are a lot of great books out there more worth your time.


I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

4 Things I Liked About Wild in the Hollow by Amber C. Haines.

Title: Wild in the Hollow

Author: Amber C. Haines

Length: 208 pages

Publication date: July 28, 2015

Genre: memoir

Rating: 4/5 stars

I had heard literally zero things about Wild in the Hollow, and I'd never heard about Amber C. Haines either, but I saw the cover on Netgalley and decided that I wanted to read it. I am so glad that I did. I'm not going to say that the book was perfect, but it was definitely enjoyable and gave me a lot to think about.

1. The writing of the book was extremely poetic, which was a nice change of pace for me. I have read books that try to weave a faith story, trying to be poetic and meaningful, but it ends up feeling forced and fake. I did not find this to be the case (in general) with this book. Haines' writing is legitimately poetic. I will admit, there were times when her usage of metaphor was a bit much - in one instance, she was speaking of something literally, and I thought she was using a metaphor! But the writing style did grow on me. It was nice to see someone's life through such a poetic lens.

God's love is before my eyes, and it is staid. It is my hope. I keep my eyes on him. If I do not see his love, it is my eyes that have moved.

2. Haine's life has been very tumultuous. There have been a lot of pains and hurts in her life, and the honesty with which she wrote about them was very refreshing. Even though my hurts have been different from hers, I still felt like I could connect with her on a deeper level because of her honesty.

3. One of my favourite things about the book was seeing the emphasis she places on community in her life. So often I see that the god of individualism and self in our society has lead us to believe that community is not important, but that is such a lie. I was so refreshed to see someone praising community and the importance of it in our lives.

4. The whole story was constantly a reminder that God can take all of the ugly, broken things in our lives, and somehow give us beauty and joy in the midst of it.

I wouldn't say that I agreed with every viewpoint that Haine's has, but through the book you can also see how her viewpoint on things changed over her life. If you are looking to read a moving memoir, I would recommend this one!


I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

Colliding With Destiny || Sarah Jakes

Title: Colliding With Destiny

Author: Sarah Jakes

Length: 215 pages

Publication date: September 2, 2014

Genre: Christian inspirational

Rating: 2/5 stars

Way back in 2014 I received and read Colliding With Destiny. I had been excited about the premise, but ultimately it fell flat for me. I just had a look at the book on Goodreads, however, and apparently only 2 other people felt the same way as me about this book. So maybe you'll feel differently, who knows?!

Colliding With Destiny is an exploration through the life of Ruth. Sarah Jakes uses her own stories from life to guide you through the trials and heartaches that Ruth faced, and by doing so brings this well-known story to another light. The goal is to inspire you to collide with your divine destiny, allowing God to lead you there.

The Meh:

- So much of this book felt repetitive and forced. I think the whole book would have been a lot shorter if she hadn't kept making the same statement over and over, just phrased in another way. The structure of the book is looking at a section from the book of Ruth, and then the author connecting things that happened in her own life to what happened to Ruth. In my opinion, the connections were often quite forced. It also seemed like the author made generalizations to serve her own purposes, just adding to the forced feeling through a lot of it.

- There was a journal section at the end of each chapter, and they often felt disjointed from the rest of the chapter. Often I didn't even find anything in the prompt that I could journal about! I didn't think they made a lot of sense or impact in a devotional sense. 

The Good:

- Sarah Jakes has had a hard life, and her honesty about it was very encouraging and refreshing. She makes it clear that she made bad choices, and that obedience to God has made all the difference in her life. 

- I found this book more motivating or meditative, rather than devotional. The author made a lot of statements that made me think a little bit longer, which I appreciated. A couple examples:

"We make life so much more difficult that it has to be, all because we make God an option instead of a priority." - pg. 138, Colliding With Destiny

"Those called by God must be willing to have faith strong enough to withstand the rejection of others around them." - pg. 170, Colliding With Destiny 

I would not recommend reading this book as a devotional, but rather as a motivational/inspirational book. There are good lessons to be learned from Sarah Jakes' life, and the overall message of the book was solid.

I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

I'm Participating in ARC August!

I found out about this awesome concept from my friend Samantha at Thoughts on Tomes, and I just knew I had to join in for this! I am easily swayed by the newest book I get, so my poor advance reader copies tend to get ignored. This is a fun way for me to get motivated about reading them!

This event was created by Read.Sleep.Repeat, and you can find all of the information for it on their blog.

The Rules:

The rules are very simple:

• It may be a physical ARC or and eARC but it MUST be an ARC.
• It can be an ARC that has released as long as it is an ARC.
• This is meant to be fun!! Feeling like you are being “forced” to read is the best way turn a fun event into a yucky obligation.
• Update posts! You can update once a week, every other week or once for the whole darn event. This update can be in the form of a blog, Tumblr post, vlog, link to your “ARC August 2015″ shelf, or even an Instagram pic!

My TBR:

I have only 3 Netgalley ARCs that have not been published yet, so those are my priority. Then I'll pick up whatever strikes my fancy yet. I don't know if I will read ARCs exclusively or if I'll throw other books in there. (I haven't gotten to read Armada yet, after all.) I am currently participating in the Booktubeathon, and I am not reading any ARCs for that. The rest of the month should be good though! 

I have listed my books mostly in order of publication/how much I want to read them. 

Wild in the Hollow - Amber C. Haines
From a Distant Star - Karen McQuestion
Mechanica - Betsy Cornwell
Anchored - Kayla Aimee

How to Fly with Broken Wings - Jane Elson

Audrey & Bill - Edward Z. Epstein 

Tolkien - Devin Brown

Puppet - Pauline C. Harris

How We Deal With Gravity - Ginger Scott
The Paper Magician - Charlie N. Holmberg
Portal 24 - Meredith Stroud
Cannonbridge - Jonathan Barnes 

I am hoping to get my updates up every week either on this blog or Instagram. My monthly wrap-up will be on my YouTube channel at the end of August. Are you going to participate in this? If you are, leave a comment down below and tell me what you're reading! 

Lizzy & Jane || Katherine Reay

Title: Lizzy & Jane

Author: Katherine Reay

Length: 339 pages

Publication date: October 1, 2014

Genre: Adult contemporary

Rating: 4/5

Elizabeth is a professional chef in New York, with her own successful restaurant. But lately the magic seems to be gone, and something is off with her cooking. In order to find that spark again, Elizabeth goes home to Seattle to visit her family: her father, widowed after her mother passed away from cancer when she was a teen; and her older sister Jane, currently fighting her own battle with cancer. The trip becomes more than Elizabeth or Jane could have guessed, and leaves Elizabeth questioning her career, relationships, and faith.

This book hit really close to home for me. After losing my father to cancer a year and a half ago, cancer stories always impact me on a different level. Picking this story up, that was not what I was expecting, but I was pleased with Reay's depiction on how cancer affects the whole family. I found the story to be quite realistic in its portrayal of emotions, relationships, and situations the characters found themselves in.

This story has a romance sub-plot (what else could you except from a story whose heroines are named after Jane Austen's most famous sisters?) but at the heart of it this book is about family, which is a refreshing change. There are also good friendships to be found here, which I always look out for as well.

I feel that I should note that this story does revolve heavily around cancer, so that might be very stressful for some readers. Also, there is a scene where a character suffers an injury that, while not horribly graphic, imagining it made me quite squeamish indeed. Other than that, I couldn't recommend this more.


I received a digital copy of this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.