What a Son Needs from his Mom by Cheri Fuller

I had a mixed reaction while reading this book.  First, I'll say that I found it incredibly helpful, inspiring, and helpful as I think about raising my now 2-year old son.  The book highlights such topics as a son's personality, helping your son in school (as many boys struggle with the typical classroom setting), praying for your son, overcoming your own fears (of your son being hurt or doing something wrong, etc), nurturing your son's faith, and much more. What I found most helpful in this book was how it talked about boys are different than boys and, as a result of that, how they need to be related to and parented differently than girls.  Because all moms are girls, we don't necessarily know what our boys are thinking and feeling (and they can't necessarily tell us).  There are some things I wouldn't have guessed and others that didn't surprise me but that I might not have thought of on my own. 

When I say that I had a mixed reaction to this book, I was referring to the dread (is that the right word?) that this book brought to the surface of my son growing up.  I've always known that my son is going to grow up and that there will be struggles with that, but having a book talk about the ways that this will happen naturally makes me want to take every moment as it comes!  So I guess that is also a positive for this book.

I would recommend this book for mothers of sons.  There are also helpful suggestions for raising daughters, but the main focus is certainly on how mothers can nurture their sons. 

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc. Available at your favourite bookseller from Bethany House, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

"Sixteen Brides" by Stephanie Grace Whitson

I have had this thing lately about wanting to read books that I would have loved to read back in junior high.  Old books about prairie brides.  So when I keep receiving offers to review these types of books, I jump at the chance and end up bored out of my mind.

Sixteen Brides is an interesting idea for a book. It is set in the late 1800's. Sixteen war widows are conned into becoming mail-order brides when promised free land and a new start out west. It is the tale of these women who sacrifice everything they have in life (which, admittedly, is very little for most) for a chance at a new beginning.

I felt like this book would have served to entertain me well at 11 or 12 years of age, but after reading books with much more challenging themes since my preteen years, I felt that it was alot of fluff, not to mention quite predictable. Now, if heritage prairie, Christian novels are what you enjoy, I would absolutely recommend this book to you. It is exactly the sort of book you would expect to find in your church library. But if you enjoy picking up on underlying themes and reading between the lines, searching carefully for what the author may (or may not) be saying, then this book is not for you. This book is written at the level on which it is meant to be understood, which makes for a great Sunday afternoon read for some, but it is definitely not for everyone.

This book was received from Bethany House Publishers and I was under no obligation to provide a positive review.

"Not A Sparrow Falls" by Linda Nichols

"Not A Sparrow Falls" is a story about a woman in her mid-twenties who has found herself in a life that she would never have chosen.  In a desperate attempt to be free, she flees and finds herself making a new life for herself in a new place, as a new person.  Just when things are seemingly perfect and she has almost forgotten about what she left behind, the past catches up and she is forced to face it.  This is a story about faith and hardship...about being washed clean and experiencing true freedom in Christ.

I found the beginning of the book to be a bit cheesy and expected this to be a typical "Christian novel", filled with all the cliche Bible verses and "perfect" Christian characters.  While it does have some of that, I found myself enjoying the story and feeling along with a little bit of what the characters were experiencing.

If you are looking for a book to cozy up with on a Saturday afternoon, this is a good option.  It's an easy read, and well written.

I received this book from the Bethany House Publishers book review program and am under no obligation to write a positive review.