"Laugh Out Loud Pocket Doodles For Boys" by Rob Elliot, Jonny Hawkins

"Laugh Out Loud Pocket Doodles For Boys" by Rob Elliot and Jonny Hawkins is a book geared toward boys to finish some drawings and jokes.  My youngest son (age 10) could not put this little book down.  He had a lot of fun drawing, finishing jokes and reading their answers to the jokes also.  This is a very fun book it is especially good for road trips or when waiting for an appointment.  I think it is so good to find something for kids that is not electronic for them to do when having to wait a long time and this does it.  They have one geared toward girls also but I have sons so I am not sure on the girl one. I highly recommend this very fun little book geared toward boys.

I was given this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group for my honest review.

The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom

"The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom is a true story of not just Corrie but of her sister and father and how they hid Jews from the Nazi's in Holland.  I have read this book before but this one is geared more towards children so I wanted to check it out. I really enjoyed this one for kids not only is it wrote for them in a easy flowing way, it had some very nice drawings done of things that happened to Corrie and her family. It does not gloss over what happened to Corrie when her family got caught hiding Jews. Corrie is not perfect she admits that but will point you to Christ not herself.  She really points to the fact that Christ is the reason for her strength not herself.  I really enjoyed this book and plan on giving it to my youngest to read.

I was given this book from Chosen a division of Baker Publishing Group and was not required to give a positive review.

Gone Without A Trace by Patricia Bradley

"Gone Without A Trace" by Patricia Bradley is the 3rd in the Logan Point mysteries.  The Logan Point mysteries can be read out of order.  It involves private investigator named Alex Jennings trying to help find a senator's missing granddaughter and Livy Reynolds a police officer who thinks her cousins disappearance is connected. If you have read any of my reviews previous to this one then you know I read the 2nd book in this series and did not like it.  But this one  in the series I really enjoyed a lot!  At first I thought the book was heading in the typical Christian Mystery Romance style but then about a 1/4 way into it changed into a story I really go into.  I can't say what the change was as that would give away a good portion of the story but I could not put it down after the change.   I really like how the characters developed and even though I am not a fan of characters changing in mid chapter this one did it very well.  It was an overall great book.   Even though I have not read the first book in this series I highly recommend you start with this book as it was the best in the portion of the series I have read.

I was given this book from Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group and was not required to give a positive review.

The Innocent by Ann H. Gabhart

"The Innocent" by Ann Gabhart is about a possible Civil War widow Carolyn Kearney who thinks she has no-where to go but to join the Shakers.  While with the Shakers murder starts to surround the peaceful community which sheds a cloud over her but the Sheriff who likes Carolyn wants to find the true killer.  This book was very interesting as I did not know much about the Shaker religion.  I was worried that it would have been more of a romance novel but it wasn't.  It really more about Carolyn coming to terms with her relationship with Christ and coming to terms with may have happened to her husband in the Civil War.  I think I was most interested in how the Shaker's were.  I had no idea on their false belief it was a very informative book even though it was a fiction book.  The author really did her research on their beliefs.  The characters in the story we very interesting my only problem was I would have like a little more history on some of the side characters.  I will recommend this book as a good book not just for the story but the information on the Shakers.

I was given this book Revell a division of Baker Publishing Group for my honest review.

The Tank Man's Son by Mark Bouman

 "The Tank Man's Son" by Mark Bouman is a powerful book on the authors horrific childhood and how God used it for good.  This is the first book I have read in my life that had a warning about foul language from a Christian Publisher. This may make some stop and not read it but I know that if we are going to tell our story about life before Christ sometimes we have to use that language when showing what others have done and said to you otherwise I consider it a partial lie and you need to be truthful on how things were.  The author's childhood at points did seem like a kids dream (tanks, war games, and free outdoor play) but overall it was a child's nightmare growing up with an extremely abusive neo-nazi dad.   The physical abusive that the author went thru just broke my heart reading it but I did not stop reading as I could barely put the book down as I wanted to know how God was going to use this for His glory.  The author could have wrote the book in way that would tear his dad to shreds with words. But he didn't he wrote the facts in a way that showed his pain but also how every child does looks up to their father at some point even if its for a small amount of time.  He really showed us in words the confusion that went into his mind as a child and even that of his siblings.  Also his telling of his mom just made me respect her so much for her strength of what she had to endure and her finally saying enough.  But God used all of the nastiness for His glory.  Not only did the author come to know Jesus but he and his wife were able to be missionaries during one of  Cambodia's darkest times in history.  The violence and war life he got from his dad helped him during Cambodia's civil war.  But not only that we also read about the redemption and forgiveness of father and son.  It is a very powerful story and I plan on keeping this book to re-read or to give to someone who God leads me to that needs to read the story of this man.  I highly recommend this book please read it, we need to see how God can take the horrible things in our past and turn them to good for His glory.

I was given this book from Tyndale Publishers and was not required to give a positive review.

Until the Harvest by Sarah Loudin Thomas

"Until The Harvest" by Sarah Loudin Thomas is about Henry Phillips, Mayfair Hoffman and Margaret Hoffman and they their lives work together after the death of Henry's father.  After the unexpected death of Henry's father, Henry gets involved with the wrong crowd, while Margaret takes care of Henry's grandmother with her sister Mayfair who people think of as a healer. One note is that this book takes part in the mid 70 which you do have to keep in mind for part of the story.  Parts of this book I enjoyed like the characters of Henry, Charlie and Margaret.  But the side portion of Mayfair I just did not enjoy at all for most of the book at least to me her character was almost treated like God as being able to heal some people. Near the end faith in Christ is mention but almost like an after thought.  Mayfair was given more credit that I would have liked.  This book was one I just don't know where I stand with it, if I liked it or hated it.  One moment I could not put it down then another moment I did not want to finish it but I did and I still don't know if I like it or not.  So I will have to leave my recommendation on this book on the table.  In other words I will let you decide if you should read it or not.

I was given this book from Bethany House Publishers and was not required to give a positive review.

In Our Backyard by Nita Belles

"In Our Backyard" by Nita Belles is a book about human trafficking in America not sex trafficking but all kinds of human trafficking.  This was a very powerful book, it did not just give you details on human trafficking but also how to help people.  I liked how the author wrote about people being trafficked not just sex but in work area also.  Also she brings up that a lot of traffickers were victims themselves.  Also she brings up that this can happen to anyone in any area or background.  Us in small town areas we have a tendency to think oh it can't happen, but its actually more common to have victims come from small areas as they are more trusting.  It drives me nuts when people say oh human trafficking only happens in small areas and to kids in troubled families.  So not true, victims are from every type of family and community.  This author really points that out and I hope it opens the eyes of many people.  A lot of this book I already knew but it still informed me on things that I did not know.  I highly recommend this book for everyone to read.

I was given this book Baker Books and was not required to give a honest review.