Confessions of April Grace: Chocolate Covered Baloney

K.D. McCrite writes a wonderful story of a 12 year old girl from Arkansas and all of the experiences she has. April Grace (the twelve year old girl) is faced with many problems that youth face today, but the story is set in the 1980's. April Grace's biggest struggle is with change. Over the past few months her life has changed tremendously. In the opening chapter she lists off a few things that have changed including her grandmother, a new baby brother and her mother being sick. As the story continues we see how April Grace deals with the change that has already occured and how she is getting used to it, and we also see how she handles change that is continuing to occur. Throughout the story there is typical sibling interaction, family stress and struggle as well as the conveying of delightful family interactions.
This story rings true to my experience as a young girl and reminds me of stories I read when I was young, like Judy Bloome (one of my favorites). I enjoyed  reading the story and remembering what my childhood was like, including the sibling rivalries. I felt like this book was an honest portrayl of many things that youth today face, and it was a very enjoyable read. I would rate this book 4 out of 5, remembering that the story is geared for youth and kids. :)

Hope Springs

What a beautiful story of relationships, reconciliation and love. Hope Springs is a story of reconciliation as a family that was torn apart is slowly pieced back together.
As a broken relationship and the loss of a husband lead to a budding new relationship a call to follow God is given, and a difficult decision must be made.
A seperation by color of skin is taking place in the town of Hope Springs, North Carolina and the pastors of the churches are faced with the problem of reconciling it.
As a young woman runs from man to man because she fears commitment, she is faced with the fact that she is really running from God.
As a grandmother struggles with a dibilitating lung cancer she is able to see her family drawn together in a new and magnifacent way.
All of these stories are housed within this one book Hope Springs. I would reccomend this book to people who enjoy reading about lives coming back together, grace, reconciliation and building new realtinoships. This book had just the right amount of romance mixed with faith as well as real life situations. I would give this book a 4 out of  5. It would be 5 out of 5 but I struggled with sompe of the writing style, so it was not my favorite book ever. A great read and I would highly recommend it.

The High Calling Newsletter

The High Calling Newsletter had interesting articles by various authors, as well as video and audio interviews and  "talks". I found many of the articles to be interesting and understandable. Most of the articles we geared particularly for the laity in the church. Some of them were encouragements and challenges to grow in your faith, while others were meant as a form of education on various topics. I read through an article from October that was about micro-management, and I found it interesting as i have been employed by people with many different leadership styles and am myself a leader. The other articles I scanned and the audio I listened to were also very interesting.  I would give the newsletter a 4 out of 5 stars for interesting and applicable works.

Red letter revolution

Red Letter Revolution was an interesting read. I did not agree with everything the authors were saying, in fact most of it I did not agree with. However, I did find many of their ideas thought provoking, and I worked through the many different topics addressed in the book as I read.
Campolo and Claiborne present arguments for various aspects of our life, addressing them by looking at the teachings of Jesus and explaining how that determines how we should live.
Personally I am not sure they approached the different teachings of Christ in a good way. I often felt like the teachings were taken out of context and explained differently than I have ever heard them be explained.
Overall I liked reading the book simply to give me a new perspective to think about and a new way to address different issues in our world today. I enjoyed the thoughts of Campolo more tha those of Claiborne. I felt that he presented many issues but without a very practical way to approach those issues. My favorite, and most thought provoking chapters in the book were the chapter on the church and Hell. They proved thought provoking and I still find myself mulling over the ideas presented. Overall I would rate the book 3 out of 5

Soul's Gate, by: James L. Rubart

Wow! what a great story. Rubart presents an exciting, nerve-racking, and emotional view of the spiritual battles that go on around us. The story is about four people who come together in order to fullfill a prophecy given many years before. As the group grows together they learn about the spiritual realm that empowers them through the name of Jesus Christ. In His name they can understand the leadings of the spirit, teleport, and most importantly enter someones soul to battle for them. This premise sounds far-fetched and a little ridiculous, but when you think about all of the movies and comic books about superheros this storyline becomes a delightful story of action in the spiritual realms.
Although I do not think that the many things that take place in this book are real, I did enjoy the story for the fiction it was. Just like C.S. Lewis' Narnia, or Dekker's Circle series, the story Rubart paints is of a world seperated, and yet connected to our world. This story was action packed and entertaining through the entire book. I enjoyed reading Soul's Gate and I look forward to the next book in this series coming out in print. I would rate this book a 5 out of 5, it was a great story.

Beginners bible app

I was asked to review the Beginners Bible App. The app itself was decent, however I only got the free version, so I was not able to review every story or aspect of he app. I thought the app itself was well done and interactive. My nieces loved to play on it after I read them the corresponding Bible story. They especially enjoyed the puzzle and coloring pages. I thought it was nice that each of the pages was interactive, including the ones with the story written on them. Overall I was very satisfied with the product. I would give it a four out of five stars.