alltheradreads's Reviews (1.9k)

Being on the launch team for #IdRatherBeReading is SO FUN. I’m the biggest Anne Bogel and loved getting to dive into this one early. It’s such a spot on book for bibliophiles and would make an excellent gift for your bookish buds! It’s short and sweet, lovely in every way, and will have you thinking I HAVE FOUND MY BOOK-LOVING PEOPLE AT LAST. My favorite parts? Confessing your literary sins and how to arrange your bookshelves! I’m a sucker for rearranging mine constantly... just dreaming of the day I have a library room with a sliding latter like Anne (and Belle, of course.)

I’m not quite sure how to put into words just HOW MUCH I loved this new book from Shannan Martin. I mean, I have two whole pages in my journal of quotes I just HAD to copy down so I wouldn’t forget them. It’s convicting in all of the best (and most blessedly uncomfortable) ways. It has stirred me to actually look around my ordinary places and see the beauty there, and has invited me to a deeper, truer, richer way of life that looks a whole lot more simple than I tend to make it, but is a lot more meaningful than shallow living ever could be. Goodness, I’m challenged and changed by this one, and so grateful Shannan has let us in on this glorious truth we so easily miss, that the best place for us to be and love and serve is right where we are, right in our ordinary places, right now. You’ll want to RUN and preorder this one before it releases on October 9, and snag your preorder freebies too (they're so good)! You’ll be so glad you did. 🙌🏼 So thankful this one was sent to me by the publisher as I’m part of the launch team!

I DEVOURED this one... could not put it down. Her story of escaping a craaaaaaazy and painful life in a Mormon survivalist family and making a life for herself beyond their home mountain is WILD and gripping. Parts were hard to read (intense abuse, injuries, etc) but overall, this was fascinating and mind-blowing. It reads almost like fiction (in the best way) and reminded me of The Sound of Gravel which I also loved... more memoirs of this caliber, please!

Grabbed this one from work (perks of working for a Christian media company where publishers send us all the things!) because a friend was reading it, and found it such a solid and comprehensive look at Christian faith and life as a believer. It was more a refresher for me than anything, but a really thorough and encouraging one that will absolutely be a recommendation i share freely with newer believers! Loved @bruxybaby’s voice— honest, down to earth, gracious and loving, friendly, fresh. Nothing here is condemning or critical or crazy (as Christians and the church can often be...), but it instead made me fall in love with Jesus and Christianity all over again and remember why I first chose this wild and beautiful life of faith in the first place.

This book is tiny (38 pages!) but SO MIGHTY. Wow wow wow. (When Hannah Brencher recommends a book and then your pastor references it the next Sunday, you grab it and devour it ASAP.) I want to read this one weekly (especially the second half of letters from Brother Lawrence) — such rich and meaningful thoughts about how to truly, deeply, and consistently seek and find God. I could have underlined this whole book, it’s just that good.

I originally started reading it alongside the church calendar, as it’s a collection of writings (her sermons!) following the church holidays, but I eventually just kept reading since it’s so good! I love all things BBT and even though I don’t belong to a liturgical church, I love the rhythms of the calendar and found these sermons deeply insightful, moving, inspiring, and beautiful. I’ll come back to this one during Advent and Lent especially!

This weekend’s read — couldn’t put this one down! It felt like a blend of Gossip Girl, How to Get Away with Murder, and the book S.T.A.G.S. I read earlier this year (scroll back to find it!), and I was super into it. Missing mothers, secret societies, private school drama, switching storylines and flashbacks, suspense and mystery... it made for the perfect summer young adult mystery read. The ending fell a bit flat for me (i wanted so much more!) but overall, i enjoyed this one!

Confession: I never really understood all the hype around A Wrinkle in Time. It just never grabbed me, as a kid or as an adult. Walking on Water, though, I resonated with and loved. I was curious to know more about the author of them both, and was excited to see this book come on my radar! Madeleine is a fascinating woman with remarkable talent and beautiful faith, and I loved reading more about her story, her influences, her decisions, her family life, and more. If you like author biographies, this would be a great one to grab next! I especially loved the parallels (and the highlighted differences) to C.S. Lewis (my fave!). Can’t wait to keep reading L’Engle books and learning from her lasting legacy! (Thanks, BookLook Bloggers, for sending me this one to review.)

Trying to make my way through all of my girl Anne Lamott’s books, and it’s a blast. Her wisdom, sass, totally unfiltered honesty, realness, and faith are so incredibly inspiring to me. She’s my spirit animal, for SURE

I don’t usually say yes when authors reach out and ask if they can send me a copy of their new book, but I’m glad I did for this new one from Tilly Dillehay! It released this week and is a book I know will be so helpful and encouraging for anyone struggling with envy (so literally EVERYONE). It was so thorough, so Scripturally focused (loved how every chapter shared direct applications from and connections to passages of Scripture), and really relatable and honest. This book invites us into a more free and beautiful way of living when we step out of our well-worn patterns of comparison, judgment, bitterness, resentment (hello, #enneagram1 fatal flaw!), and all other common kinds of envy... the invitation here is for all of us, and it’s life-changing. (Thanks to Harvest House Publishers for gifting me this influencer copy!)