(To win this book and two more that will help you start 2012 off right, check out the New Year’s Prize Pack information below my review.) At our home, we’ve had an extended holiday celebration. Our final set of visiting family leaves this morning. I’m sad to see them go but excited to get back to the normal-and-necessary routines of school and writing work—and blogging, too. Most of the books I review here at Read. Write. Pray are new or not-yet-released. But I want to start this New Year with a review of a book that released on January 1—three years ago. I missed it back then but am grateful to have read it now. The other day, I bought a special dessert for my husband. Because I love to bake, I don’t normally buy desserts. But our family was celebrating a special event in my husband’s life, and I decided to purchase a rare treat as a way of honoring him.  The surprise was not the purchase, however. The surprise came in my husband’s unexpected gratitude. He thanked me several times—not for the dessert itself (although he loved it), but for taking time to celebrate him. His gratitude blessed me. And his surprise made me realize how often I take him for granted. Routine is (for the most part) easy, or it wouldn’t become routine. But a large part of marital joy comes in little packages: the surprise desserts, the private celebrations, the picked-you-up-a-movie and more. And sometimes we need a reminder. In The Husband Project: 21 Days of Loving Your Man–On Purpose and With a Plan, popular speaker and author Kathi Lipp gives readers that reminder: three weeks’ worth of practical tips and thoughtful encouragement wrapped in wisdom and tied with a bright bow of humor. She shares with engaging candor about her own marital bliss and blunders, preparing the way for readers to examine their own. The book’s user-friendly format makes a great match for busy wives whose marriage relationship could use a refresher. The Husband Project moves from foundational principles (including a helpful section on adapting the projects to whatever unique situations readers may face) to day-by-day project instructions to a planning/overview sheet and glossary. The projects themselves range from the simple (praising your husband in front of other people) to the more involved (planning a B & B experience at home). No, the author doesn’t suggest you wrap yourself in Saran and meet your husband at the door (although if it works for the two of you, I’m sure she’d approve). Instead, she sets forth a challenge to allow God to change your marriage by changing you. She also encourages you not to go it alone but...

I want to end my second year of READ.WRITE.PRAY and semi-regular blog posts with a bang and a blessing. Today’s book makes a great choice for both. I’ll add an additional blessing tomorrow. Disclaimer: I know some of the authors whose books I review. Jenny B. Jones and I were roommates this past summer on a SUSIE Magazine  missions trip. She sent this book as a gift to my teenage daughters and urged me to ignore the review invitation. But after all three of us loved the book, I had to disobey. I figure the worst Jen (a high school English teacher) can dish out is a detention. Unless she decides to mail me one of her cats.  And now, for your end-of-the-year pleasure, the review: I found plenty to love in There You’ll Find Me (Thomas Nelson, 2011) by novelist Jenny B. Jones. But I also loved it for what I didn’t find. Please indulge my explanation.             WHAT I FOUND:    Winsome Characters: I loved even the ones I didn’t like. From bit players (Sister Maria, piano teacher and part-time philosopher) to superstars (Finley Sinclair, exchange student and wounded heart) and Beckett Rush (vampire-portrayer and Hollywood hot topic), all added value to the story and helped keep me reading.   Humor: If Jenny B. Jones writes it, I’ll laugh at it. Awkward-but-true things happen to her characters. Because awkwardness overflows my own life, I can’t help but smile. I bet you will, too.     Compelling Plot: Finley’s on a journey that takes her further than her planned destination of Ireland. After the death of her beloved older brother, Will (read Save the Date for his story), she retraces his steps in search of personal healing. And somewhere in the process, she finds much more.   Layers of Meaning: This book reveals Jones’ growth as a writer. Perhaps no one would label it “literary fiction,” but the bursts of beauty that shone from its pages left me longing not only for my own trip to Ireland, but for more from this gifted author. WHAT I DIDN’T FIND:   Preaching: Throughout the book, Finley carries on a constant-but-interrupted dialogue with God. The faltering nature of her faith makes it all the more real. And in faith as in writing, real is good.     Lectures: Beckett, Finley, and the other characters have choices to make. Sometimes they choose wisely. Other times, not so much. Believable, real, and right. Period.     Final Answers: At the story’s end, Jones leaves us with more questions than answers. This again displays her skill as a novelist and sets the stage for what I hope will be more of Finley, Beckett, and the...

It’s hard to find a family untouched by Alzheimer’s or dementia. Your neighbor’s forgotten how to feed himself. Your co-worker’s wife becomes agitated when she can’t recall the word she needs. And the man at church slips further into silence every day.   With firm yet compassionate words, author Cecil Murphey comes alongside caregivers to offer empathy, understanding, and advice borne of experience. When Someone You Love No Longer Remembers presents a treasure chest of caregiver wisdom in gift book format. Tender illustrations, true stories, and real-life examples end in the aphorisms that have become Murphey’s trademark. A brief section about laying aside our dreams ends with the bolded statement “I didn’t ask for this assignment. But as I serve my loved one, I’m also serving my loving God.” Any of the books I’ve featured this month would make excellent gifts. I’ll share today’s review copy with a friend who’s struggling to balance work, church responsibilities, and caring for her mother. Bless the caregiver in your life this Christmas or New Year’s with the gift of this tender, touching, and to-the-point publication.  Do you know someone who could use this book? Have you been or are you a caregiver for someone suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia? Leave a comment below or  on any of this week’s other posts and receive one entry in a drawing for my CHRISTMAS PRIZE PACK. This book selection includes Christmas Miracles (another Cec Murphey title); They Almost Always Come Home by Cynthia Ruchti, an award-winning novel I reviewed earlier this year; and two of my own projects: Rite of Passage Parenting by Walker Moore and I Would Die for You by Brent and Deanna Higgins. I’ll choose a winner at random on December 26 and mail the package out before 2012! Merry Christmas! (FTC disclaimer: I received a copy of this book free from the publisher. I was not required to post a review or a positive...

“Jesus wrecked my life.” These powerful words from Katie Davis provide a beautiful portrait in miniature of today’s YA Friday feature, Kisses from Katie: A Story of Relentless Love and Redemption (Howard Books, 2011). Katie’s 22, which explains the “YA” connection, but her story has a much broader appeal.  Jesus wrecked Katie’s comfortable, loose-ends-tied up, American teenager life because she chose to listen—and obey. Like the biblical Philip on the way to Gaza, she took the road less traveled in response to God’s call. At first, that road led to a short-term missions trip in a Ugandan orphanage. Katie’s parents no doubt thought that would take care of her little missions kick. But they didn’t count on Jesus. And they certainly didn’t count on Katie. Kisses from Katie, like the author’s popular blog, details her adventures as first mission volunteer, then kindergarten teacher and ultimately adoptive mom of fourteen, founder of a nonprofit organization, and long-term missionary to Uganda. No, Katie doesn’t preach a social gospel. Instead, she lives the whole gospel, the one that compels us to wash our neighbor’s feet and to love those neighbors as we love ourselves. She lives out that gospel day after day amongst a hopeless people in a desperate place. You see, this isn’t a book you read. Collaborative writer Beth Clark combines a narrative thread and Katie’s journal entries with such skill that you experience Katie’s story alongside her. You pick hundreds of jiggers (burrowing insects) from a child’s inflamed skin. You prepare meals for your family without benefit of microwave or fast-food restaurant. You dance and hug and laugh at the center a circle of children who may never have known a loving touch. Above all, you hurt as Jesus hurts. You love as He does. And, like He does, you stay. You stay because you can do nothing else. Put this book at the top of your must-read list for 2012. People matter to Jesus. It’s our privilege, responsibility, and message to carry that message in ways that cost. Read it. Live it. And allow Jesus to wreck your life, too. Katie says it better than I do. Watch the trailer for her book here and feel free to leave a comment below. Have you served in missions? Did others’ stories help move you to go? Fill me in! CHRISTMAS CONTEST: Leave a blog comment and you’ll be entered in my drawing for a Christmas prize package. It contains several of this year’s review books along with a bonus or two. I’ll share more about this next week, but link or list your email address so I can contact the winnner. One entry per person per blog post, please; US...

Somehow, Christmastime evokes the best and the worst. You receive that toy you’ve always wanted, but you also get the itchy wool sweater that ends up at the bottom of your dresser drawer. You look forward to Grandma’s famous gingerbread cookies, but Aunt Fannie’s prize macaroni-and-marshmallow salad? Not so much.    Here in Bright’s Pond, Christmas offers the best and worst as well. A Thanksgiving spent with friends—and a Hawaiian-themed feast. The Fountain of Youth—and nursing home residents cavorting like drunken kindergarteners. A long-awaited wedding—and the potential of broken hearts. When it comes to the elements that make a great story, however, author Joyce Magnin offers up only the best. Once again, she draws readers in via her skillful presentation of awkward-but-endearing characters in situations that seem absurd and realistic all at once. Blame it on the Mistletoe pulls on some loose threads from earlier Bright’s Pond offerings (Will librarian Griselda get her pilot’s license? Can she choose between longtime beau Zeb and pilot Cliff, the new man in town?). But the twists, turns, and irregular bumps we’ve come to expect from this series find their way into this novel as well, along with an enduring message of love, faith, and the power of community. Whether you’re shopping for a Christmas gift or seeking sweet relief from the holiday madness, I highly recommend this engaging read. Buy the book. After all, you can always Blame it on the Mistletoe....

Military families hold a special place in my heart. As a child, my husband attended 27 different schools before his dad retired from the Marine Corps. He says this helped him learn how to make friends quickly, important skills for a future pastor and teacher. But I can’t help but think about the little boy who went to three different schools in second grade alone. I can’t help but contemplate the struggles of his mother, home with three children—one with severe learning disabilities—while her husband served in Vietnam. My appreciation for military families only increased after we spent almost seven years serving a church close to the Camp Pendleton (California) military base. I loved having Marines in our church. We considered these military members our own extended family, hosting them for holiday meals and doing our best to serve their unique needs. My heart broke for some of the young couples who were barely equipped to deal with marriage, much less the stresses of the military life. That’s why I’m so thankful Tony and Penny Monetti have penned Called to Serve: Encouragement, Support, and Inspiration for Military Families, a small but thoughtful book designed for their fellow warriors. No academic tome, this power-packed guide disarms the reader with transparent stories of the authors’ own struggles. You name it, they’ve encountered it in their twenty-plus years of military life: deployment, problem pregnancy, TDYs (Temporary Duty Assignments), depression, marital struggles, and more. Each of the thirty-one brief (three to four pages) chapters covers one of the concerns either the authors or a military acquaintance has faced. The dual authorship give readers the blessing of both military and military spouse perspectives. I loved the way each chapter opened with a well-chosen Scripture and ended with questions that personalized the content. But what I especially loved were the resources mentioned throughout the book and compiled at its close. These include organizations and websites specific to the many issues the authors address.   Although the Monettis are an Air Force couple, they take care to make their book accessible to any branch of the military. I recommend it for active duty, reserve, or retired members of our Armed Forces as well as pastors, churches, and others who want a better understanding of the stresses these families of sacrifice encounter. I salute the Monettis as I thank them for a wonderful contribution to the arsenal every military family needs. If you know a military family, I encourage you to share this book as your special gift. And if you are a military family, it makes a great stocking stuffer for you or your spouse. I intend to share my review copy with my new friend Charlsie, whom I met on one of...