Month: October 2017

Five Missionary Books | Five Fall Favorites Day 4

Published on by Amanda Tero15 Comments

Today, we’re heading to the barn to discuss some favorites. Maybe view it like a fall fellowship where we gather with laughing, music, and books of course!
Also be sure to stop by Rebekah’s blog to read everyone else’s posts and catch up on some wonderful missionary books today! And guess what, guess what?! We’ve had 75 entrants into the giveaway which means there is now going to be a second place winner!!!! Spread the news because the party is just getting better!!! 🙂

Relax, and let’s talk about some wonderful books that are very worthwhile reading! This has proven a glaring defect in my recent reading diet. While I have balanced non-fiction and devotional books with fiction, it has been years since I’ve sat down and read a passel of missionary books or Christian biographies, so I don’t remember which ones I actually liked or not. I’m going to throw in a few devotional books as well.

Evidence Not Seen by Darlene Diebler Rose
This remains one of my favorite women missionary stories ever. It’s not just a missionary story, but a missionary/POW story.
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

Bruchko by Bruce Olsen

This one was fascinating, however, I didn’t find that he was 100% Biblical in everything he did (you’ll have to read my review for that though). His faith… that was amazing!
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

God’s Smuggler by Brother Andrew

This is one of those books that I feel every believer should read. I waited way too long before I read it. And it is an amazing, wonderful read!
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

Tortured for Christ by Richard Wurmbrand

I initially thought that this book might dwell too much on the tortures for me (I don’t think we should avoid knowing about Christians being tortured, it’s just that sometimes the writers glory in the torture, and not so much in God). This book, though, was amazing and I left it praising God for the wonderful examples of others before me.
Add to your Goodreads list here
Chappie by Alton E. Carpenter
Best for last. This isn’t exactly a missionary story. Uncle Alton was a chaplain in WWII, so in a sense, he kind of was a missionary. At any rate, yes, he’s one of my former relatives, but I don’t think my view of his book is in any way biased, as anyone we’ve given it to to read has loved it as well. It is an amazing journal of a man who decided to follow God’s call to leave the church he was pastoring to minister to the soldiers as they were on the field. Uncle Alton was right there with them, in the heat of many major battles. Yet so often, he would just stop and reflect on the beauty of God in nature. Yeah… it is amazing.
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

What missionary books do you like?



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Five Book Series | Five Fall Favorites Day 3

Published on by Amanda Tero23 Comments

Day three–halfway through already!!

Hop on your bike and stop by Rebekah’s blog then continue traveling through all of the other lovely book bloggers. Better have a heavy-duty bicycle, cause I’m fairly certain your TBR list is going to be towering! Especially because today is series day… that means if everyone else is like me, I’m not recommending five books but five series which, in my case, is seventeen books!! 😮 

Don’t forget… there’s a giveaway at the end of the post!

Viking Quest Series by Lois Walfrid Johnson

I’ll start with a series for the kids. Out of all of Johnsons’ series (which, I do recommend them all, but that would be stretching the rules of “five favorites” just a little, but just so you have it, look up her Riverboat/Freedom Seekers series and Northwoods Series), this is the most kid-friendly. The other two series have a little more boy/girl stuff in them, but this one saved it until the last book, and even then, felt wholly acceptable.

These also happen to be the latest Johnson series that I’ve read so it’s freshest on my mind AND I have reviews of them on Goodreads.
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review of the entire series here | Individual reviews for book 1, book 2, book 3, book 4, book 5
Culper Ring Series by Roseanna White
  
The Culper Ring highly fascinated me. I do just like Roseanna White, I’ll admit. Some of these I liked more than others (book one is probably my favorite… I mean… Winter!!!). You can read my individual reviews on Goodreads.
Add to your Goodreads list for book 1, book 2, book 3 | Read my reviews for book 1, book 2, book 3

Time of Grace by Alicia Ruggieri
Have you ever read a series where all you could think was, “This was just the most sweet series ever?” That’s this series. Heart-aches and pain throb through the pages, but never without the hope of God’s grace.
 
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here
 
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here
Ancient Words by A.M. Heath
  
This series. If you like the War Between the States era, put these on your list. And even if you don’t, still put them on your list. 😉 Clean and historically accurate, these definitely belong on my top-five favorites list.
Add to your Goodreads list for book 1, book 2, book 3 | Read my reviews for book 1, book 2, book 3

Serena Jones by Sandra Orchard

  

I’m still trying to figure out why I like this series so much. 😉 There are a few elements that I usually don’t like (love triangles and not the most well-written for two), but they are just the kick-back-and-relax-and-read books. With a good bit of humor to boot.
Add to your Goodreads list for book 1, book 2, book 3 | Read my reviews for book 1, book 2, book 3 

Now for the fun part:
What are some of your favorite book series?

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Thinking About Beta Readers…

Published on by Amanda Tero3 Comments
After the big news of last week (finishing this draft of Nat’s story), the rest of the week was a relatively quiet writing week. One day, I did have time to sit down and work some on writing—mainly, adding a little meat to some of the last few chapters of the story. But I still need to do that major read-through and final touch-up on Nat’s story before I send it off to beta readers.

Speaking of beta readers… 

Do you have a polite, critical eye? I am looking for ten beta readers for Nat’s story. If you’re interested in applying, please sign up here.

One exciting thing that I’m hoping to do this week, if the Lord allows, is take pictures of my “Nat” (a friend named Seth) for the cover!! I have a general cover-idea in my mind, but I kind of need a picture of my guy before I can really work on the final cover. I’m super excited about that. If you think about it, pray that Thursday afternoon is clear and that I have the wisdom to know exactly which shots to get.

How can I pray for you this week?


Five Clean, Christian Romance Books | Five Fall Favorites Day 2

Published on by Amanda Tero17 Comments

Welcome back to day two of Five Fall Favorites! Remember to hop by Rebekah’s blog for links to the other fun rooms in this party–and remember to keep your eye out for the book room, cause there’s something good there for you. 😉

Today I’m the backpack room!

I’m definitely a book packer and always bring at least two books with me anywhere I go–plus… my Kindle. You know, just in case an emergency strikes and I need more than one book to read. 😉

Five clean, Christian romance books… I’m definitely a huge component of CLEAN romance. There have been several books that I’ve shut because the romance wasn’t clean enough for me. So I’m really looking forward to seeing what the other bloggers have for this topic.

Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke

One almost can’t think Christian romance without thinking Janette Oke. And I’ve never had to put one of her books down because it’s taken me “into a bedroom scene.” She is clean. Very clean. And usually very Christian. I haven’t read this one since I started writing reviews, so I don’t have one (need to read it again, I suppose 😉 ), but you can still read it for yourself. 😉

Add to your Goodreads list here

A Home for my Heart by Anne Mateer

This one was one of those adorably sweet books. From what I remember, there were absolutely no uncomfortable romance scenes whatsoever. Actually, it didn’t strike me as primarily a romance… guess you’ll have to read it and figure out your thoughts. 😉
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

This book! ❤ I liked it very much! Of course, I've gotten to where I tend to like all of the Kim Vogel Sawyer books that I've read… 😉 But this one especially. If you've not read Kim Vogel Sawyer, it's a good one to start with!
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here

Of course, a Roseanna White has to go on this list! Some of hers, I feel, are a little cleaner than others because in books (like The Reluctant Duchess) deal with situations that are for more mature readers. But this one. I really liked this one! 🙂
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here
It’s been over a year since I read this, and I haven’t read other of Sundin’s books (my sister says that some of them have more detail than others), but overall, I remember really liking this one and finding it clean (a few references were made to past events, which you’ll see in my review)
Add to your Goodreads list here | Read my review here
Your turn!
What are some of your favorite clean Christian romance books?

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Five Historical/Bible Fiction Books | Five Fall Favorites Day 1

Published on by Amanda Tero19 Comments

Last year, I was a part of reader-blogger group who did this super duper fun “Five Fall Favorites” party. I’m happy to do it again! 

Before I get into my post, a huge, special thanks to Rebekah at Read Another Page for her hours of hard work putting this together! Visit her blog for her feature of today’s post and a nice, handy-dandy link to everyone’s blogs who are participating in Five Fall Favorites.


Today, I’d like to welcome you to my blog… for FFF today, I’m the book room which means…

A FREE BOOK!
Oh yeah, did I mention that this week also has a lot of fun stuff like free eBooks and giveaways? You are now informed. 😉
Today, one of my eBook short stories is free on Amazon. Since today’s theme is Historical or Bible Fiction, I thought it fitting to offer “Debt of Mercy” for Free.
Beyond that, at the end of the post is a giveaway… so you can either be like me and scroll all the way down and enter, or you can be polite and read through the entire post first. 😉
Now, my favorite part… talking about five of my favorite books in this theme (loosely using the word “favorite” here cause it’s almost impossible to choose actual favorites 😉 ). So get your Goodreads open and ready to explode your TBR pile!

A second year has been tough, cause I’m trying to think up books I did not feature last year, but still books that I like. I tend to keep my favorites for a long time and I just don’t usually get 30 new favorites in a year. 😉 But I think I managed to change about 50%.

Christ Arose by Faith Blum

Faith did an excellent job of writing the resurrection from the tomb’s perspective without adding too much creative license.
Add to your Goodreads list here | See my review here
The Bronze Bow by Elizabeth George Speare
My childhood favorite! It has been years since I’ve read this, but I have fond memories of reading and re-reading it!
Add to your Goodreads list here

The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

I waited way too long to read this wonderful historical fiction book. Easy to read, captivating, and yes… I just loved it.
Add to your Goodreads list here | See my review here

The Last Sin Eater by Francine Rivers

I need to reread this so I can write a review on Goodreads. Many people stay away from this book because it sounds weird. For me, it was more of a beautiful concept of taking an old custom and comparing it to the truth of Scripture. It’s not for everyone, but everyone in my family who has read it has really enjoyed it.
Add to your Goodreads list here

Grace Triumphant by Alicia Willis

An excellent historical fiction book about the slave trade. Definitely action-packed, thought-provoking, and Christian.
Add to your Goodreads list here | See my review here

What are five of your favorites?
Whether Biblical fiction or historical fiction… what books do you like?

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Scripture Graphics #59

Published on by Amanda Tero2 Comments
In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. (Psalms 138:3)
How often do we doubt God’s ability to answer because His answer does not come exactly how we think it should? How often God sustains us and gives us grace to go through trials and troubles—is that not answer to our cries? God may not remove our trouble, but that does not mean He doesn’t hear us and answer our needs.


It is human nature to think first and foremost of the personal comfort of ourselves. How often do we desire answered prayer JUST for another reason to praise God?

James 1:5 reminds us that, if we lack wisdom, we can ask of God Who gives it liberally. The verses prefacing Proverbs 2:6 give a little more insight about being recipients of God’s wisdom. We are to receive His Words and hide His commandments in us (vs. 1), incline our ears to wisdom and apply our hearts to understanding (vs. 2), cry after knowledge and understanding (vs. 3), seek it as silver, search for it as hid treasures (vs. 4), and *then* verse five comes. We can’t just ask for wisdom and get it. If we truly want to know God’s wisdom, we won’t just pray occasionally for wisdom—we will saturate ourselves with God’s Word, which reveals His wisdom.

How often do we look at our substance (wealth, riches) and ask, “Am I glorifying God with this?”


If these are words from father to son, how much more important is it for us as God’s children to continually keep His Word in front of us?