alltheradreads's Reviews (1.9k)

I loved this book so much. I’m so sad it’s over. What a good story— of high school, moving, grief, love, drama, connection— this one was perfect start to finish. The mystery of who the anonymous emailing/IMing guy was kept me guessing, I loved the characters and could so relate, it captured the nuances of high school so well... gah. So good.

If the concept of hygge has caught your attention, you will LOVE this one. I seriously feel like I’ve found the culture that matches my soul COMPLETELY and I want to move to Sweden tomorrow. I’m obsessed. Everything about lagom— the balance of not too much but not too little— is beautiful and enticing and so smart. This book is such a fun one— chock full of pictures and facts and stats and stories, it reads more like a magazine almost! (Shared a few vids in my story.) I want to buy this one ASAP (thanks, library, for having it!) and just love it.

This is SUCH a helpful and relevant book chock-full of applicable advice on how to fight fear and anxiety through faith. I loved Alli's first book Breaking Busy and knew that this one would be no different (props for alliterative titles too, girl!) -- it was fresh, helpful, fun to read, both light and deep at the same time, and really just a powerhouse book for women.

Each chapter addressed a new question that I think every one of us worries about at some point, and included such easy to remember lists of tools and reminders for how to fight back and find freedom. If you aren’t a person who loves lists, this might not be the book for you, but I know so many of Alli's strategies here will be game changers for me personally!

I remember reading this out loud with my mom when I was younger, and the story is still just as wonderful many years later. Such a great story of bravery, sisterly love, a little fantasy and magic, and a whole lot is heart. This is a chapter book perfect for late elementary/middle school girls and one I would highly recommend!

Here it is: the book that broke my streak of reading only women and people of color this year... haha! . Throughout this book, he focuses on different lines of his overall definition of worship: “Worship is... our response, both personal and corporate, to God— for who He is! and what He has done!” — it’s helpful, honest, easy to understand, and a short read with great discussion questions included too (perfect for reading with friends or a small group). While helpful for many, I’m sure, I didn’t personally find much about this book to be new or terribly exciting.

Selah is one of my very favorite things. It was my word of the year in 2015 and it still resonates so deeply in me, this idea that we are to rest in Him, to pause and praise, to stop and listen. Kristen Kill writes about it all beautifully here, and this book reads like rich poetry. It’s absolutely lovely and it’s inviting and it’s a gift.

This book chronicles seasons of Kristen's life and her family, while weaving in this idea of finding peace and rest and moments of worship in the midst of the chaos. Even though my own life looks different from hers, there was much about this book that resonated with me. The way Kristen writes is so soothing that even reading this book felt like selah to me.

This was a fun read! It was a random library grab solely because I love unique typography (cover design MATTERS) and I read it in two sittings. The back cover teases it like this: “Everyone has a soul mate... but what if you never find each other?” It’s a back and forth kind of love story that (while predictable, mostly) kept me curious about if these two soul mates would ever meet, and when, and how.

This book was FASCINATING. A memoir of the author’s bizarre and extreme sensitivity to all kinds of light, requiring her to live in total darkness. I read this one feeling shocked and a little stressed imagining what I would do if that happened to me! It was a little slow in parts but thankfully part two about her periods of remission brought a little more interest and hope to the story... This one is super interesting and I learned a lot about something i never even knew existed!

I have followed Emily Ley on Instagram for a long time, and while her style is VASTLY different than my own, I appreciate her heart and business focus so much. I love her emphasis on simplicity in all areas of life -- personal, home, work, faith, eating, etc. This book is beautifully organized, with incredibly high-quality and genuine photos throughout that make it feel more like a coffeetable book than just a normal read. I appreciated that there were journaling prompts and places for to-do steps and reflections throughout this book, although it almost felt too pretty to write in! I left with so many new ideas about how better to organize and prioritize things in my life, without feeling pressured to spend a lot of money on silly solutions or make massive overhauls to my systems. I can imagine this book being extremely helpful for mamas, homeowners, women balancing home and career lives, and really anyone craving simplicity and calm.

With my word for 2016 being rhythm, it seemed only appropriate that I read this book about work and rest and the balance of our lives in all of it. It was BEAUTIFULLY designed-- minimalistic, tons of white space, sans serif fonts, simplistic line illustrations as symbols... just so good. The book was solid for sure, but nothing that totally blew me away, despite some high praise I had heard from friends. In InterVarsity in college, we did a series on Sabbath that rocked my world, and my church has done some equally powerful series on Sabbath rest as well, so I think those shaped my view on Sabbath, leaving the points made in this book slightly flat since they weren't brand new to me. Much of this book was a refreshing reminder on the way we were created to create and live and worship, so I do strongly recommend it, and I feel like those with less study of Sabbath might get even more goodness out of it. Do read this one!