November books

It's December which means baby month (hopefully!)

But for now I'll share what I read in November!

We started a sermon series on Hosea and one of the fellow youth coaches mentioned this book based on the Bible.  Redeeming love is a story about Angel in the 1850s. She is sold into prostitution at a young age and has learned to never trust men. She then meets Michael Hosea who obey's God call to marry Angel and love her unconditionally. Over time Angel runs back to her darkness and away from her husband's love. Her final healing must come from the One who loves her even more than Michael does. Obviously this book is a bit different from the Bible story of Hosea but I loved reading about it in another setting. 

Loving my actual life was a quick read for me! This is what Amazon says:

In a world of comparison and discontent, it can feel impossible to be happy with life as we know it. Other people seem to have it all together, to be finding success, to be having more fun. But we weren't meant for a life characterized by dissatisfaction.

In this entertaining and relatable book, Alexandra Kuykendall chronicles her nine-month experiment to rekindle her love of her ordinary "actual" life. After wiping her calendar as clean as a mother of four can, Kuykendall focuses on one aspect of her life each month, searching for ways to more fully enjoy her current season. By intentionally adding one thing each month that will make her jump for joy, she provides a practical challenge women can easily replicate. With humor, poignancy, and plenty of personal stories, Kuykendall weaves together spiritual themes and practical application into a holy self-awareness, showing women how a few small changes in their routines can improve their enjoyment of this crazy-busy life.

I've read the first two books of this series by Elin Hilderbrand and I currently have the fourth on hold at the library. Winter Storms, another book about the Quinn family, is set around Christmastime and this year promises to be a celebration with a wedding! A blizzard threatens to keep everything from going smoothly. I can't wait to get my hands on the fourth book!

Whole was somewhat of a personal development book for me. It makes you dig deep and look into the holes in your life. It makes you look at the things that are keeping you from living the life God wants you to. Lisa calls us to take a look at the holes in our life, discover how to fill them with God's presence, and to get to a real and vibrant place of wholeness instead.  

Winter Garden has been on my to-read for awhile and I am ever so thankful for the public library!

Because Amazon does a better job than me at describing this book:

Mesmerizing from the first page to the last, Kristin Hannah's Winter Garden is one woman’s sweeping, heartbreaking story of love, loss, and redemption. At once an epic love story set in World War II Russia and an intimate portrait of contemporary mothers and daughters poised at the crossroads of their lives, it explores the heartbreak of war, the cost of survival and the ultimate triumph of the human spirit. It is a novel that will haunt the reader long after the last page is turned.

1941. Leningrad, a once magical city besieged by war, cut off from aid, buried in snow. A city full of women desperate to save their children and themselves…

2000. Loss and old age have taken a terrible toll on Anya Whitson. At last, she will reach out to her estranged daughters. In a halting, uncertain voice, she begins to weave a fable about a beautiful Russian girl who lived in Leningrad a lifetime ago…

Nina and Meredith sit spellbound at their mother’s bedside, listening to a story that spans more than sixty years and moves from the terrors of war-torn Leningrad under siege to modern-day Alaska.

In a quest to uncover the truth behind the story, Nina and Meredith discover a secret so shocking, so impossible to believe, it shakes the foundation of their family and changes who they believe they are.

The Perfect Christmas is about a woman named Cassie who's 33 and wants a husband and kids. Nothing has worked for her so she resorts to hiring a professional matchmaker. Simon has quite a reputation and chooses to take Cassie on but Cassie considers him a difficult know-it-all. He gives her three tasks all related to Christmas and it turns out that Simon may be more of a surprise than Cassie bargained for! Go grab The Perfect Christmas and find out! It's a warm & cozy read too!

Into the Water kept me on my seat!! I had heard people say it was a similar thriller to The Girl on the Train so I snatched it up! 

A single mother turns up dead at the bottom of the river that runs through town and just a few months before a teenage girl did as well. Left behind is the fifteen-year-old daughter and the mother's sister. The sister never wanted to come back but she digs up some things that reveal what lies beneath. 

Whew!! I read a ton in November! I guess I'm trying to get all my reading in before Graham makes his arrival! 

I hope you enjoy one or two of these books!

And if you ever want to see what's on my to-read list, follow me on Goodreads!