shelfreflectionofficial's Reviews (844)

Part I reads like an action packed spy movie as Charles Jenkins navigates a CIA mission in Russia. Things aren’t what they seem and he might not get out of the country in one piece. Very suspenseful and tense.

Part II is the legal proceedings that occur in the aftermath of the mission. Reads like a John Grisham novel- lots of legal jargon and takes place almost solely in the courtroom.

I really enjoyed the combination of both of these parts. Though the purpose of the mission in part 1 isn’t really resolved or revisited in part 2- hoping in the next book we learn more about who all that mission involved.

The characters are likable and easy to picture- I like that David Sloane becomes a part of this story. It’s fun when series connect to each other.

Looking forward to the next installment of Charles Jenkins’ story! Oh, and if you have a trip planned for Russia any time soon, reading this book may give you second thoughts!!

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

I picked up this book because we've been tired of hearing the word 'mission' or 'missional' and feeling like we don't know what it means anymore. I've read other Kevin DeYoung's books and think highly of his theology, so when D.A. Carson praised their handling of the Bible, I knew I could trust their interpretation of Scripture and what the Bible has to say about this topic. As I started reading the book my first thought was that this was going to be a long, redundant book. Especially if I didn't really have a problem with their answer to book's titled question. However, I found the entirety of the book helpful, relevant, and important. At the very least, a book to reference when questions come up concerning our involvement in social justice as an individual and as a local church body.

I'm not sure how anyone who read the whole book could come away thinking they were advocating for people to stop helping the poor and needy. It would seem to be an example of what they actually described in the book: "The minute you start arguing that good works are not of the utmost importance, people accuse you of saying that they are of no importance at all." They Scripturally defend why we MUST do good works if we are truly followers of Jesus and specifically say they are not discouraging anyone from pursuing social justice. But what they further differentiate, is that what we are called to do as individuals (the church scattered) isn't necessarily the main mission of the church gathered. The Bible has several examples of commands given to the church body that the individual person "should not undertake to obey on his own" and vice versa. For example, the sacraments are for the church gathered to take together, whereas, the taking of only one wife is for the individual, etc. They say "Not everything we do in obedience to Christ should be understood as part of the church's mission."

They convincingly lay out Scripturally why the mission of the church can be found in the Great Commission passages- to go and make disciples, to proclaim Christ crucified. I discovered that a lot of passages of Scriptures used to justify social-justice-heavy mission statements are actually misinterpreted. To understand the church's mission we must understand Jesus' mission, what the Bible means when it refers to the 'poor', and understanding the over-arching storyline of the Bible. They also had a short section on economics that I found very interesting when identifying strategies to help the poor and taking into consideration their effects.

I would very much recommend this book, regardless of what your personal convictions are in terms of 'social justice' involvement. I truly think that the criticisms others have given 1-2 star reviews for are unfounded. If nothing else, read it for yourself.

Some excerpts:

"Ultimately, if the church does not preach Christ and him crucified, if the church does not plant, nurture, and establish more churches, if the church does not teach the nations to obey Christ, no one else and nothing else will. And yet, many others will meet physical needs."

"We Christians are to be conspicuous in our following of our King Jesus. We are to do good works as a testimony that God has made us into something different from what we once were, and from the unredeemed world around us. As people of the kingdom, we are to be salt and light in a fallen world. That is, we are to be different, and by those good deeds together with our true words, we are to testify to God’s character."

"Since hell is real, we must help each other die well even more than we strive to help our neighbors live comfortably. Since hell is real, we must never think alleviating earthly suffering is the most loving thing we can do. Since hell is real, evangelism and discipleship are not simply good options or commendable ministries, but are literally a matter of life and death."

"The social justice discussion would be less controversial and more profitable if we stopped talking about justice and started talking about love. Is it unjust for poverty to exist in the world alongside such wealth? Are we implicated in injustice because we live in a society with so many have-nots?... But should we love wildly, sacrificially, and creatively here, there, and everywhere? Absolutely… It’s too easy to wield ‘social justice’ like a two-by-four to whack every middle-class Christian who tithes, works hard, deals fairly with others, and serves faithfully in the local church but doesn’t have time to give to or be involved in every cause. It is hard to prove that most evangelical Christians are guilty of grave injustices toward the poor. Let’s not stir up guilt where it doesn’t belong… it is not hard to prove that there is more we can do to love… We really ought to love everyone, not all in the same way, but when we can, where we can, however we can."

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

"My selfish Christian Atheist view was that God existed for me, rather than I for him. If he'd do what I thought he should, I'd trust him more. If he'd come through for me, I'd give him more of my life. If he made my life better and pain-free, I'd believe him more passionately. But anytime God didn't meet my expectations, we had a problem. God created me in his image. I returned the favor and created him in mine. The kind of God I wanted to believe in was this: if he's not what I want, then he can't have my whole life."

A provocative title and important book. It's easy to call yourself a Christian. It's easy to say you believe in God. But it's hard to live like it. Have you ever thought there was no point to prayer? Have you ever questioned if God loves you, cares about you, or fights for you? Have you ever resented that evil people seem victorious and good people are sick, robbed, oppressed, killed? Do you spend time worrying about your kids or your job? Are you resigned to stay the way you are? Is a prominent goal in your life to just be happy? Are you jaded by the ways the church has failed you? Do you largely keep your faith to yourself? Congratulations, you're a Christian Atheist. Just like me.

It's not enough to just say I believe in God. This book challenged me in all the right ways. I can't devote my life to Christ and be okay with worry, okay with prioritizing money, happiness, comfort over faith, okay with criticizing God's church. With each chapter I had to do some self-reflection and ask myself- Is He Lord over this area of my life? Because if he isn't, I don't really believe He is who he says he is.

I love the use of the word 'atheist' because it shocks us. As Christians we scoff that we could ever be an atheist. After all, we believe in God and Jesus, we go to church, we usually pray, we're generally good, nice people. But if we're honest with ourselves we don't live like it. If we really know him for who he is then we wouldn't trust ourselves over prayer; we wouldn't make earthly happiness and a pain-free life our end goal and ultimate achievement; we wouldn't be afraid or resistant to change; we wouldn't treat God like his role is to serve us. And how often do I do that?? I need to take every thought captive and challenge myself daily- am I living or making choices like God exists or not? Do I truly live like I believe?

Let this book make you uncomfortable. And come away with a heart to know and believe in your God.

"'Whatever it takes' became my heart's cry. Whatever it takes to know him. Whatever it takes to live like I truly love God. Whatever it takes to love eternity more than this world. Even if I have to fight, scrape, and crawl away from my Christian Atheism into a genuine, crucified life of faith and radical obedience to Christ, I'll do whatever it takes."

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

So many people rave about this book. I don’t. But maybe you should still read it. The point of the book is to spur us on to love all people, all the time. While I personally had some issues with the book, if reading this will help you love others better, then don’t let me stand in the way! And to his credit, Bob Goff is funny and a great storyteller, and I truly believe he loves the Lord and is doing a lot to help people and love on them. I cannot criticize him for lack of effort!

So what was the problem? After each time I read part of this book, I came away thinking ‘I need to be more like Bob Goff’ or ‘Man, I’m never gonna be like Bob Goff.’ And it’s not about Bob Goff!! It’s about being more like Jesus and loving like Jesus. It read more like a memoir of Bob Goff’s life than a biblical book on looking like Jesus.

We constantly hear the message ‘Love others’ or ‘love your neighbor’, etc. And I’ve been struggling to figure out what EXACTLY that means. How do I, in my life, do this better? What does it mean to love? Can I still be loving someone if others don’t feel like I am? Bob Goff did not answer these questions for me. A lot of the stories he tells, as other reviewers have observed as well, are not relatable to me in where I live and what I have access to. I can’t send people to Disneyland. I can’t fly back and forth to Uganda a bunch of times. I'm not going to let a homeless man hang out in my minivan during the day in between carting my children around. The practicality was not there. And maybe I’m looking for answers that just aren’t going to be cut and dry, and that’s something I need to sit back and consider. But either way, this book does not take you by the hand and help you identify ways you can make a difference in your community. It overwhelms you with grandeur and paralyzes you into feelings of inadequacy.

A lot of his stories seemed irresponsible. No Bob, don't go flying your little plane through this very risky place just for the heck of it- get those groceries back to your wife! The writing was a lot of disjointed stories peppered with a few lines of ‘profound’ analogy that most times didn’t connect for me. I kept thinking, ‘Wait, what point is he trying to make??'

I also had issues with the way Bob did and did not talk about the Bible. I believe Bob has a high view of Scripture, and granted, a lot of the things he said, I’m sure he didn’t MEAN it that way, but perception is reality, and I wish he would have taken more care with his words. With every quote from the book below, I’m sure he could explain further how it’s not what I think, but here are my thoughts:

“[God is saying] ‘You got this. You know enough.’ ”
Um.. no…? I think God would tell us ‘I got this’ and ‘I’m enough.’

“[Jesus] demonstrated the word with is much bigger and worthier and more accessible than any ten Bible verses.”
I’m thinking he maybe meant something like actions speak louder than words, but I don’t think he has the authority to tell us what word is worthier than God’s very Word.

“There’s a verse that says 'Do not despise these small beginnings'. I love that.”
He gives no biblical reference and no context. It’s an obscure verse in Zephaniah (I looked it up) and I’m not entirely sure if he used it properly. And then says “He already believes in me, just as much as He knows the outcome. He already believes in you too. He’s so confident we already know what to do next that He’s willing to be silent even when we ask for His voice.” I don’t think we need God to believe in us. It’s not about us. And He is not silent because he’s confident in our ability to discern right and wrong. I don’t think we can begin to explain why God is silent.

[Talking about Ananias and Sapphira] “So why did they drop dead? I don’t think anyone knows for sure…They had probably said what they hoped to do so often they actually thought they had done it.”
Um. Again, no, Bob. For one, he likes to talk about the Bible and say ‘We don’t know, but I think [insert either a bad idea or something that’s already widely known]’. For two, I’m pretty sure they knew exactly what they were doing. They didn’t want to give away all their money. And they didn’t want to tell people that. It’s that simple.

“He continues to be with us…He’s sent us books about Him and has included a lot of letters, and He’s sent us friends too.”
And, also, Bob Goff, he sent HIS SPIRIT. Missed opportunity to talk about a pretty significant thing.

“When we draw a circle around the whole world like grace did and say everybody is in, God’s love gives us bigger identities that we used to have.”
And later he talked about the thief on the cross with Jesus, that Jesus didn’t give him a quiz, he just said, ‘You’re in.’ A little reminiscent of Rob Bell. God’s grace is sufficient for all but not effective for all. Jesus didn’t save both thieves, he just saved the one. Of course, we don’t know who God chooses to save, but Bob Goff’s words infer some Love Wins theology, which is not biblically accurate.

He likes to tell us what God is thinking. Which, obviously, I don’t think that’s our domain. But even the few places where God lets us know what he’s doing, I think Bob still gets it wrong.

The intent of this book is great and important and relevant. But not much of the content fell into any of those categories for me. His humor and good storytelling didn't make up for the lack of strong biblical support and frankly, his arrogance. Like: he says they are teaching witch doctors to read using the Bible....and his own book. What?! Why not just use the Bible? He appears to be equating his words with God's words. And then he casually drops that he got to meet the president at the White House with the man he brought back from Uganda. That part was not relevant to the story; I think he just wanted us to know he got to go to the White House. And then there's the parts where he passed all these hard law exams on his first try, he holds his office somewhere that would require people to pay $100 just to talk to him, their family's private lodge, etc.

I can't deny that this book DOES remind you to see people, listen to their stories, involve them in your life. And that is worth noting and keeping with you.

I want to love everybody, always, but this book wasn't doing it for me. There was way too much Bob to sift through to get those few sentences of value. Read at your own risk.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

"Do you think this flower is beautiful?"
"Yes."
"And what do you think is its purpose? Why does it now sit in my hand?"
"It's beautiful, so it was picked."
"So it's the picking that gives its purpose, and its purpose is to be beautiful. Was it not beautiful before the little girl picked it?...it was always beautiful, even as a seed, because it did the most amazing thing!... It grew."

“No, I can't say I don't feel fear, but that's because life is a series of forgetting and remembering. Only when I forget who I am does the fear invade. I just have to remember.”

"Hear and believe, even in the storm. When it grows dark, find your song of truth, and then even in the darkness you will know who you are."

If it weren’t so long I would have also included the excerpt at the beginning of the book- beautiful words written by her sister Kara and words every woman, well really every human, should hear. You are beautiful and you are chosen. I love that. It challenges you to reflect on where you have your identity and what lies you are believing. And on top of all of that, it was a great story! It has a lot of elements similar to her dad’s writing but it’s definitely it's own story and own world. I read this book from the library but just bought the whole series today. Looking forward to more of her books. The Dekker legacy is to write entertaining and engaging stories filled with simple but profound truths. I would put their books at the top of Christian fiction.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

If you've ever been stuck in the endless cycle of doing yet feeling it's never enough, or not doing and feeling like a failure, this book is for you. Jared Wilson's book reads like a conversation with a friend. He does not set himself up on a pedestal but rather sits beside us in the trenches. I think he does a great job of coupling resting in the gospel news 'It is finished' with our call to obedience and emphasizing that 'having our act together' is not the story of the Bible. He says, Dos and don’ts accomplish nothing resembling biblical Christianity when they are detached from the done of the gospel. The gospel gives us oxygen and space to breathe.

I found this book convicting- not in a way that makes me feel guilty but in a way that gives freedom, not scolding from someone who doesn't understand but encouragement from someone who gets it and admits it. It's not a 10 step plan to successful faith. It's the message that we are free to obey and free to fail because our salvation is not dependent on anything we have done, are doing, or will do. It's great to be reminded of that!

There were so many parts of this book that resonated with me- a new perspective, a bold proclamation, a challenge to the way we live. It acknowledges the struggle of following Jesus, encourages us where we are, and reminds us that it's worth it.

One of his chapters talks about Galatians 6 where there are two lists in contrast- one is the works of the flesh (basically every sin imaginable) and the second is the fruit of the spirit. He says, "If we can take anything away from a blunt comparison of the lists, it might be this: the solution to bad things we do isn’t good things to do but good things to be... the primary problem with so many approaches to Christian discipleship [is that] they are predicated primarily on doing different rather than becoming different." He goes on to talk about each fruit of the Spirit and how each characteristic God commands of us, he actually gives to us in abundance!

Maybe, like me, you need to hear this: "... no matter how you feel, if you are a follower of Jesus you are never truly stuck. The Spirit is doing a million things in your heart and with your life, and while the theme song of your spiritual life may seem more like ‘Another One Bites the Dust’ than ‘We Are the Champions,’ you are indeed growing..." And that is what discipleship is: letting God grow us into what he wants us to be, by his power.

I think this is an important book to read to grasp what discipleship (following Jesus) really means. I think it's one I'll want to return to every time I feel stuck in a rut, focused on the checklist, and questioning if I'm doing enough.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

Due to our current pandemic, I felt it the right time to read this exceptionally long book. Somehow I read it in 5 days. As a mother of two littles, I’d be happy to accept an award for such a feat. And I can tell you- I didn’t read it that fast because I hated it.

I really liked Riddle’s Atlantis Gene trilogy and this book is definitely from the same cloth in that it was well-researched and chock full of historical and scientific information. Granted, some of it feels extra and like Riddle just wants to say “Did you know...?!” or “Look at all my knowledge!” But I still found it really interesting. Especially since we’re experiencing it right now (at a much lesser intensity).

Which- let’s talk about that for a minute. This book was written in 2017. It is 2020 now and we’re in the middle of a global pandemic in a modern era. I find it amusing how different the book’s governmental/CDC reactions are from real life when the book’s pandemic is much more virulent. It spread way quicker and has an astronomically higher death rate yet nothing was really shut down for awhile. Everyone still went shopping on Black Friday. No shelter in place order was issued, etc. The beginning of each day, Riddle inserted the virus infected/death numbers. It was hard to know whether that information was known by the characters or not so I suppose that could be why- plus the virus first presented itself as a normal flu.

Considering the variety of effects on the world from our actual pandemic, reading a story like this is a little eerie. Bioterrorism is scarier to me than most other forms of terrorism. Everyone has their own opinion but this quote from the book is timely: “And when that horrific pathogen reached their shores, they would do anything for the cure. Including giving up their freedom.” It is evident the power of fear.

It appears there are a lot of reviewers who find this book laughable or boring or unrealistic. I don’t know who these people are, but if I’m going to read a book about a global pandemic, I’d like it to not be too realistic. I’d rather be able to come away thinking ‘at least that will never happen.’ But maybe that’s just me.

Riddle did go big with his storyline: Bourne Identity meets Contagion. Man wakes up with an advanced skill set and no memories, finds out he needs to stop a global disaster he may or may not have been part of. Come to find out it’s a project that has been in the works for a couple thousand years that will change humanity forever, answer the question ‘why are we here?’, offer protection from literally everything (even natural disasters), and it requires a near extinction level event to get the ball rolling. It’s called The Looking Glass. And after book one, we are not privy to what it actually is yet. Oh, also all the critical players are all somehow intimately connected.

So if that all bothers you- maybe don’t waste your time reading it. But I decided to go with it! I like his writing and imagination. It read fast because it read like a movie. Lots of flashbacks for background knowledge, lots of shifting from following one character to another, lots of action. I didn’t find it confusing. I didn’t find it boring. It was informational, intriguing, semi-relevant, and entertaining. Too many coincidences? Nah, in this context I appreciated them.

So why not 5 stars? Well, it’s not a perfect book.
- The build up in this book about what the Looking Glass actually is is so big and we get no clear answers that I’m worried I’ll be disappointed with book 2 on its reveal. It is possible Riddle went too big. We will find out.
- I liked all the historic/scientific information he included, but it did get to be too much at time- there were a lot of acronyms and organizations to keep track of
- If we want to talk about unrealistic coincidences- let’s start with Desmond’s ability to figure out passwords he doesn’t remember. Not a week goes by that I don’t get frustrated with passwords. And my memories have not been tampered with. So nice try, A.G. Riddle. I think it would take him AT LEAST 4 tries, 2 lockouts, and a reset to a different email with 3 more tries before he cracks it. But I digress.
- Peyton’s interactions with her family towards the end is a bit out of character. In dangerous circumstances, you’d think you’d be more careful who you trust given the history of the situation but she just goes all in without much deliberation.

All that to say, I may be in the minority of ‘most helpful’ reviewers, but I enjoyed the book and if my review doesn’t put you off, I think you’ll like it too! And honestly, the sheer size of it is overwhelming but it really wasn’t bad to read at all!

I shall leave you with this quote from it’s pages that I also found amusing. What a time to be alive.

“Human history has a relating theme: we battle pandemics, we lose, we die, it burns itself out, and we rebuild. We always come out the other side stronger. Humanity marches on.”

Peace.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

So thankful for Jen Wilkin writing meaty and theologically sound material for us to learn from!

Just finished doing this as a women’s Bible study. It’s a great book for studying God and His Word together and spurs lots of good conversation. It’s a book you need that you may not even realize yet.

Seeking to address the question- ‘What is God’s will for my life?’ Wilkin responds by posing a different question. Instead of trying to figure out what we should DO, we need to ask ‘Who should I BE?’ “our sanctification is not simply that we would make better choices, but that we would become better people. And the way we do that is by looking at who God calls us to be in His image.

This is somewhat of a companion book to her book “None Like Him” (that I haven’t read yet) that explores how God is different than us. “In His Image” explores the characteristics of God that we can reflect: holiness, love, goodness, justice, mercy, grace, faithfulness, patience, truth, and wisdom.

When we seek God’s will, it’s not a process of behavior modification and earning our faith by making the ‘right’ choices, but it’s a process of being transformed from the inside out to reflect God’s character. And it is a process. In our discussions of each chapter every week we touched on how we fall short in each of these areas- we will never perfect our character this side of heaven- but that through his spirit, God enables us and grows us little by little.

Wilkin will challenge you and encourage you and remind you of the freedom we have in Christ. You’ll come back to this one when you’ve forgotten what it means that we were created in his image. As she points out, when Jesus is asked about paying taxes and he responds by asking them whose image is on the coin, “He says, in effect, ‘The coin is engraved with the image of a ‘god,’ marking what belongs to him. You, on the other hand, are engraved with the image of God himself, marking what belongs to him. Will you concern yourself with earthly obligations to the neglect of the heavenly ones required by the image engraved in you? You bear the very marks of the Creator. Render unto God what is God’s.’”

The questions of what should I do, where should I go, etc are not meaningless and unimportant, but God’s will is that we are transformed in his image, bringing glory to his name, and when we are seeking to be more like Him, it’s not so much what we do and where we go as much as who we are when we’re doing it that.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

3.5 Stars. Firstly, great and clever title. Nextly, I'd say this book is probably going to be more inspiring to entrepreneurial types or people who are just die-hard-the Gaines-can-do-no-wrong types. I am neither, so it wasn't a kick-starter book for me but having watched a lot of the show and liking Chip and Joanna as people, I still found it interesting to read about their journey leading up to their show. I have not read Joanna's book so I cannot speak to whether this is a rehashing of the same material or not.

Here's my breakdown:

The upside: Chip is not too proud to admit his faults. He is a man who practices what he preaches and puts in hard work to achieve his goals. He's not afraid of failure. He desires to build others up and help them see their dreams to fruition as well. He's a family man and puts his trust in the Lord.

The downside: There were lots of cliché analogies and phrases. At least from what I know of him, he wasn't writing from an aloof, I-am-superior attitude so it wasn't obnoxious in that way. It actually kind of fits his personality in a (positive) way, I just prefer more creative, fresh writing.

This next observation is a little tricky to nail down. There's reviewers on both sides saying 'too much God' in the book or 'not enough God' in the book and we don't know his intentions- who his target audience really was. In this type of book I don't think it was necessary to talk about God in every paragraph by any means. What I found, I guess 'concerning', was just a little bit too much focus on individual effort. He definitely acknowledges God's hand in all of his success, but there is just so much out there from people striving for success that teach: you deserve all of your dreams and do whatever it takes to get there and that if you work hard enough and don't take no for an answer and don't allow for a plan B then you WILL get all you desire. And it's all a little too 'me-centered.' There's nothing wrong with having goals and dreams but as a believer, our life is not our own, it is the Lord's. God is not there to serve us and our dreams- we are here to serve and glorify Him. And sometimes his will lines up with our dreams, which is awesome, but our life on earth isn't marked by our success but by our faithfulness. Chip could absolutely agree with and believe all of that- I just didn't see very much of it in his writing.

Another 'knock' on the book for me, as other reviewers also mentioned, was the very end where some of his personal assistants added some words about Chip. It is clear they all admire Chip and consider him a friend and mentor; and it is clear their contributions were not edited to make him look better than he is. But some of the tasks he flippantly put on their desk did seem a little, I don't know if arrogant is the word, maybe disrespectful? I totally understand and respect his philosophy of making his employees 'figure it out' so they learn it better- great idea. But some of the things that caused stress for his assistants seemed unnecessary or selfish. And maybe if I had a personal relationship with Chip I would perceive their stories differently. Or maybe it just terrifies me to think about being his personal assistant.... haha.

Additionally:

This book was written in 2017 so it was interesting how well parts of the book is related to what our world is going through right now with the pandemic and racial tension. His chapter 'Team of Rivals' actually seems pretty out of place in the middle of the book, so the flow isn't there but he still makes some good points:

"When contempt has become the norm and misinformation is rampant, it makes for a kind of rhetoric that may only be silenced by absolutism... Contempt and judgment clothed in concern says more about the 'concerned' than 'the concerning'..."

He also talks about fear: "fear will literally ruin ever facet of your life; it cripples everything. You know how hurt people hurt people? Well, scared people scare people. And thus, the cycle of fear continues on... Fact: life isn't safe. You could do A, B, and C all perfectly right, and then bam! All of a sudden D will show up, and D wasn't even on the guest list...It's never too late in your story to take a step away from fear. And the good news is that both optimism and courage are contagious. No hand washing necessary. Simply catch and spread."

These resonated with me in the times we are living in. I've been trying to practice faith over fear. Which though his words seem to say optimism over fear, I believe his optimism is actually because of his faith and trust in Jesus. Like I said, Chip will admit his faults and failures, and for all the things his book could have done differently or better, these quotes show me that Chip's got his head on straight and understands the more important things of life.

So if you need some 'get up and go' to move forward with an entrepreneurial endeavor or a dream you keep pushing aside because of fear of failure, this book might inspire you. If you love Chip and Joanna, this book will make you feel good. If you're neither of those, this book might not do a whole lot for you or be the literary work of the year, but it's not going to ruin your life either. There are some valuable takeaways. And you can at least appreciate this man's grit, perseverance, and adoration for his wife and kids.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!

Did you know Mozart had a sister who was just as musically competent- both in skill and composition- as he was? This is Lu’s adaptation of that historical story, intertwined with a fantastical world the Mozart siblings created together.

I read it without knowledge of what I was picking up- I just knew I liked Lu’s Legend series. While I do appreciate a YA novel that is not an unrealistic love story of youths, I think I would have rather had her pick one genre on this book- either fantasy or historical fiction. Sometimes those two elements go together but I think most readers will be bored by one of the two “sides” of this particular story. I was more interested in the historical side as I had never known Nannerl to have existed and wanted to know more of her story and why history was written the way it was.

The writing itself was very well done and engaging. And as much as I say I’d rather Lu pick a genre, I will say that it was very creative how she incorporated what was happening in the fantastical world with historical record. I suppose it’s a love/hate relationship. I don’t like reading what I think is history and then becoming jolted into obvious fiction and having to piece together truth on my own (and with google) but at the same time I respect the endeavor to reimagine a story ‘already told.’

I also like the intention behind writing this book- that there are many people with amazing abilities and talents whose work and efforts are not seen or remembered because of narrow thinking. Especially for women during this time. I commend Marie Lu for bringing Nannerl to light and reminding us that every voice deserves to be heard.

So if you’re looking for an action packed dystopian adventure story or a romance, this is not for you. But if you like historical fiction with the pizzazz of fairies, enchanted forests, and tasks of imaginative bravery, you’ll probably find this book a delight! It was not my favorite but it has not deterred me from wanting to pick up another of her books.

See more of my reviews at www.shelfreflection.com!