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mostly it seems like the author mcs are trying to convince us that it s bad to want kids to behave or obey their parents individuality non conformity seems to be the main theme here but at the same time i couldn t escape the feeling that there was something more that the author was trying to instill in the young readers of this book beyond whatever message the author may or may not have been attempting to put into this book i found it somewhat boring joni and tyler seem more bothered by the idea of losing their individuality than losing control of themselves in general i was just never very engaged the climax involves a disproportionately gruesome action that i might have misunderstood because in the end it didn t seem nearly as damaging as i imagined and then there s the way the villain is dispatched it all felt a little dark and harsh for middle grade at least for my preference as well as for the tone of the book up to that point note for others who are conservative christian parents a major character is gay and i am certain that there are others who will want to be aware of this in advance and either evaluate for themselves whether to allow their kids to read the book or at least be ready to discuss it with them as after they read the book i did not factor any of this into my rating and i know many people won t care one way or the other but i share this for those who do though i didn t enjoy the book there are many others who did so if you re interested in the book please check out other reviews at the link below i received an advanced review copy for free and i am leaving this review voluntarily find out more about the ginghams see what i m reading next if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review so you want to be an architect august 19 2026 kristi leave a comment so you want to be an architect by linda soules my rating 5 5 genre middle grade nonfiction so you want to be an architect takes what could be a complicated subject and makes it accessible to kids and teens but it also doesn t talk down to them there are areas younger kids may not be able to follow but there s enough context to get the point across well enough i think i also think that if something is a little over a kid s head and sends them to asking someone about it or looking it up that s not a bad thing at all the book goes beyond explaining what architects do and what they need to learn to be able to do it it also talks about what kinds of interests innate skills and even indefinable ways of seeing the world around them that might lend themselves to a potential future architect there are segments on famous architects and fun facts as well and beautiful colorful illustrations throughout the illustrations are done with ai assistance as soules explains at the back of the book i really like how the book talks about both the good and the bad or at least the difficult sides of being an architect as well as the glamorous and more common normal aspects the book is intended for pre teens through teens aged 10 14 and i definitely could see it being a great one for anyone in or near that age range on either side of it find out more about so you want to be an architect see what i m reading next if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review asylum murders august 15 2026 kristi leave a comment asylum murders by michael g colburn my rating 2 5 5 genre historical mystery edie black has a history as a thief but she has a fresh start in melbourne australia and hopes to help the local police investigate crime instead of committing it herself she gets involved in the search for a missing government artifact which leads her to a reunion with britina a young woman from her criminal past britina now a nun in australia is assigned to work in a local asylum and quickly suspects foul play amongst some of the staff the setting and tone of this book are dark and gothic and provide a mysterious atmosphere for the story the storyline that revolves around the asylum is intriguing though not what i thought the focus of the book would be the theft of a ceremonial mace used in parliament and the beating of a woman on the same night are where the story starts and the sections with britina seem more like a departure for a while the investigation into the theft and assaulted woman leads edie to the asylum but the two storylines are never really all that connected i can t say there s really much mystery in this book as the foul play in the asylum is laid bare to us in pov scenes from the bad guys perspectives the perpetrators of the theft and assault do remain a mystery for most of the book but again that storyline takes a back seat and thus so do the actual mystery elements and only some of the theft assault storyline is actually solved by the people investigating it which is not normally how i prefer my mystery stories to end the first couple of chapters of this book set a content level that i wasn t comfortable with between the attempted rape of the assaulted woman described from her perspective fortunately it s brief and only a little of what i d call graphic and the orgy yes that s right the orgy on the night the ceremonial mace goes missing it s brought to an orgy before then disappearing completely as you might imagine then much of the investigation into the mace involves edie discussing with the attendees of the orgy their actions that night i m not a fan at all again nothing super graphic but enough to make me uncomfortable on top of all of that there is the dialog nothing reminds me more that i m reading fiction as opposed to being caught up in the story than dialog where the characters constantly say each other s names as they re talking people don t like that in real life and it s a huge pet peeve of mine in fiction so clearly i was the wrong audience for this book since many of my issues are personal preferences it s also the 2nd book in a series the 1st of which seems to have taken place quite some time before this and in london the major events of that book which led to both edie and britina being in australia are briefly explained but it was difficult for me to follow most of it sounds like it was a fairly complex plot but maybe this book would be more enjoyable to people who ve already read that previous book and become invested in the characters to me edie who calls herself lady edith though apparently she doesn t have any actual rank is fairly bland while britina gets a little more characterization in the book so while i have no plans to read the first book in this series or any that might come after if the overall idea of this book its setting or its characters interest you i d suggest you consider reading the first book in the series first find out more about asylum murders see what i m reading next if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review four windows one jesus august 14 2026 kristi leave a comment four windows one jesus by chad colter my rating 3 5 genre christian devotional four windows one jesus is a 40 day devotional focusing on jesus as portrayed in the four gospels each gospel is given 10 days 11 if you count the intro to each gospel s section that is about as long as the daily devotional with the intention to show the different facets of christ that are provided by the 4 different gospel writers i think many will find a lot to appreciate in this devotional i wrote down a few nuggets that i gleaned and that made me think about jesus myself or my relationship with jesus a little differently the author pushes the reader to not just skim passages that are familiar or even thought of as boring like the genealogy at the beginning of matthew but to slow down and try to focus on the text and why it has been included as someone who has been a christian for many years and has read heard passages from the gospels many times over the years i appreciate this slower approach i also like that the reader is tasked with reading a passage for themselves and then reading the devotional about that passage rather than 1 the devotional covering only a verse or two which can be done well but often ends up feeling a little shallow or out of context though there are a few of these devotionals that cover only a verse or two as well or 2 feeding you the passage instead of leading you to look it up in your own bible however i struggled with a few aspects of the devotionals along the way there is a lot of repetition in each devotional and the author s overall literary style is not my preference he weirdly seems to pit one gospel gospel writer against another when the day s passage is one that is also included in another gospel comparing them in a way that at least to me seems to say that the other one has parts to it that aren t worth thinking about right now even though the idea here is supposed to be to bring the different views of christ together and in the same way he seems dismissive of the old testament and other historical context as he will vaguely reference something that would give a scene in the gospel more depth and meaning and tell the reader to not let that bog down the reading understanding but as my church s pastor is fond of saying there s no text without context sometimes that context makes all the difference in understanding why what happened in the gospel matters or what it means there were a few spots i noted that i think he may have interpreted something wrongly but nothing i felt was theologically wrong i am not sure who the audience for this devotional is meant to be i feel that some of his vague references to context would confuse newer christians or those who don t have a decent background with the bible more mature christians might find enough of value here to make the book worthwhile so i suppose that s where the correct audience is best found i could see a case being made for reading this with a group because good discussion about what is brought up in the text and even the question about whether or not the reader should ignore the context or whether one angle of an account is better in mark vs matthew could arise i received a free review copy from the author in exchange for my honest unedited feedback find out more about four windows one jesus see what s coming up if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review podcast episode 49 august 12 2026 august 12 2026 kristi leave a comment in episode 49 we review the raven book 2 in mike nappa s thrilling series coffey hill also available on spotify book review living unoffended august 9 2026 kristi leave a comment living unoffended by brant hansen my rating 4 5 genre christian living radio show host brant hansen counters the common opinion that christians are entitled to righteous anger while also making a case about how learning to let go of our right to be offended can change our lives i read unoffendable by brant hansen 6 years ago and found that it had a lot to offer it helped me examine a lot in my life not only about anger and anxiety but also hypocrisy and self righteousness as brant says in the intro to this book we need to keep talking about this stuff brant does a good job here of laying out why righteous anger doesn t really make sense and how anger and worry mean we re not trusting god like we should he uses scripture as well as examples from both christian and secular writers and thinkers to back up his claims and he does it all with his signature humor brant also offers some practical advice for learning to let go of offense becoming more humble and christ like and trusting god more fully the book is basically a series of short essays and some of the content comes from at least 2 of brant s other books unoffendable and life is hard god is good let s dance i haven t read the 2nd of those books yet and fortunately i read the 1st long enough ago that it didn t feel like a repeat to me however if you have read either or both of those books you may not feel the need to read this one not that there isn t anything new here but i m not sure how much is new i do recommend this book as well all of brant hansen s books really for christians and non christians alike thank you to netgalley and w publishing for providing me a copy of this book to review find out more about living unoffended or the brant sherri oddcast see what i m reading next if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review mandie and the charleston phantom august 8 2026 august 8 2026 kristi leave a comment mandie and the charleston phantom mandie 7 by lois gladys leppard my rating 3 5 genre children s christian historical fiction i read a lot of this series when i was a kid pre teen and i read some of them to my now teen daughter when she was younger nostalgia definitely affects my reviews for this series and i m okay with that most of my issues with the previous books in the series have to do with mandie s attitude or actions and sketchy theology there was a bit of that here too this time my biggest issue is just the super weak plot it s obvious the entire time who s behind the ghost and the reasoning for it ends up being so flimsy it s easier to believe that the culprit only agreed with the suggested reason because it was at least a little better than just the real motive plain mean heartedness there s also too much focus on boys liking mandie thinking she s pretty even wanting to marry her someday for a book about a 12 year old girl i m sure i thought it was sweet or even romantic when i was a pre teen but it could definitely have at least been toned down while i think these books can still be good for younger people to read especially if you re looking for something with christian content i strongly recommend discussing what s good and bad in them with your kid s after they read it find out more about mandie and the charleston phantom see what i m reading next if you ve read this book or read it in the future feel free to let me know what you think book review thornbird august 5 2026 kristi leave a comment thornbird by e kennedy my rating 2 5 genre ya thriller romance gabrielle thorn s father confessed to murdering 6 women but for 10 years he refused to reveal where their bodies were as both the 10th anniversary of his conviction and the date set for his execution approach gabrielle returns to the town where the murders took place with a new name and new story now she s ryan shipley and even the cousins she s living with don t know who she really is ryan just wants to live as normal a life as she can before she graduates and leaves town for good but as the search for the victims bodies heats up she starts to get texts from an unknown sender threatening to reveal her true identity i don t think i d call this book a thriller and it s not much of a mystery eit...