This is the sentence that convinced me that I was holding a must-read book.

“Do I want my headstone to read, ‘Well, on the days she was nice she was really nice. But on the days she wasn’t, rest assured, hell hath no fury like the woman who lies beneath the ground right here’?”

I laughed. But then . . . I wasn’t laughing. I’ve rarely had a book have me in tears so early on, but this one did.

Because I struggle so much with coming completely unglued over the most ridiculous things and then regretting my words and actions. 

With feeling helpless to stop myself from exploding and spewing all over the people I love the most. Because let’s face it, there’s very little chance you’ll see that side of me unless you live in my house—or possibly if you’ve made the very unwise decision to refuse to split the fruit smoothie I just ordered into two cups…but, um, that’s a story for another day.

But speaking of stories, one of the things I admire about Lysa TerKeurst is her willingness to be painfully transparent. She tells things that are shocking. Not because I can’t believe them or have never done anything like them.

They are shocking because I certainly would never admit to them in print!

Maybe you have no issues with coming Unglued. If not, I’m truly happy for you. I don’t believe you, but I’m happy for you.

If, however, you might admit to occasionally losing it when someone decides to eat chocolate ice cream on the couch or run their spaghetti sauce covered face all over your pants…then read on.

What I liked:: I’ve already touched on this, but Unglued is full of very real, very practical, very relatable stories of people coming unglued in a variety of ways. And while no one is saying it’s okay to come unglued, there’s no sense of condemnation. Only a call to imperfect progress.

What I loved:: Unglued isn’t just a book that points out all the many ways we come unglued and then leaves us with a nice “you need to pray about it” platitude. Not that prayer isn’t important, but that’s a Christian-speak bandaid. I wanted to find some specific tools to help me in my unglued moments, and this book delivered.

I’m not saying I haven’t come unglued since I finished reading this book. I think it’s a little less often. I think I’m choosing to extend grace, to change my perspective, to lean into Jesus just a little more often.

It’s imperfect progress, but it’s progress.

The post Book Review :: Unglued by Lysa TerKeurst appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

Best Book on Motherhood I’ve Read. Maybe Ever.

Sometimes I pick up a book because the title sounds good. Sometimes because someone I respect has endorsed it. Sometimes because people I know have read it and recommended it.

Sometimes all three.

The title Desperate – Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe caught my attention.

Hope? For a Mom? Who needs to Breathe? Yep. That’s me.

Then there’s the endorsement. Yep. Ann Voskamp wrote a beautiful forward to Desperate and highly recommended it.

Then I started picking up comments about it on Facebook, Twitter, and in the blogosphere from people who I trust.

So when my smiling Amazon order appeared, I started reading immediately.

The book is co-written by Sarah Mae (the “young” mom) and Sally Clarkson (the “experienced” mom), which is one of the things that drew me to the book. Each chapter starts with Sarah Mae’s often painfully honest thoughts on some aspect of motherhood—exhaustion, mundane chores, training strong willed children—and is followed by Sally’s advice and encouragement.

What I liked:: The honesty. This is not a sugar-coated view of motherhood. This is real, in the trenches, “I’m not sure if I can do this today” reality and it resonated with me on so many levels.

What I loved:: I love, love, love the way these ladies elevate and honor motherhood. Even on the hard days. Especially on the hard days. These ladies express over and over again how important the role of “mom” is and how critical it is that we lean into Jesus, fall into grace, and rely on our Heavenly Father’s strength to get us through the long days and even longer nights.

What’s unique:: Each chapter ends with a QR code you can scan with your smart phone (and the web address if you don’t have a smart phone). You’ll be able to watch a video with Sarah Mae and Sally Clarkson discussing each chapter of the book.

I love being a mom. But motherhood is far, far harder than I ever anticipated it would be. I’ve been in the toddler trenches for 10 years and I am often exhausted. Often desperate to catch my breath and find the strength to keep going.

Desperate-Hope for the Mom That Needs to Breathe was exactly what I needed.

I highly recommend it.

The post Book Review :: Desperate – Hope for the Mom Who Needs to Breathe appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

One of my personal rules of writing book reviews is No Spoilers – so be prepared for this review to send you straight to your local bookstore!

Lynette Eason wraps up the Deadly Reunions series with When A Secret Kills and, well, at the risk of sounding cliche…

It starts with a bang. (Sorry, that’s all I can say!)

As hard as this may be to believe, the pace actually quickens from there.

After ten years in hiding, Jillian Carter knows it’s time to go home.

Time to face her past.

Time to expose a powerful politician for a crime that happened before her eyes.

Time to explain her disappearance to Colton Brady—the high school sweetheart who hadn’t deserved to have her vanish without a word.

Convincing Colton of what she saw and why she had to stay in hiding is complicated. So very complicated. (Sorry, that’s all I can say!)

Despite his reservations about Jillian’s story, Colton is too good of a cop to refuse to consider all the facts.

The fact that he’s still in love with Jillian Carter being at the top of the list.

As I’ve come to expect from Lynette, there’s just enough romance to keep me from being completely wigged out by the danger Jillian—and those she loves—are in as they search for the truth of what happened that night.

This plot line is one of the twistiest I’ve encountered in a while and I loved the surprises that awaited me on each new page.

When A Secret Kills hurtles from the chaos of the opening pages to the unexpected—and very satisfying—conclusion.

Available May 2013 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group. 

You can read my review of the previous books in the series by clicking on these links.

When the Smoke Clears

When a Heart Stops

While When A Secret Kills could be read as a stand alone, you’ll definitely miss out on the intricacies of the plot and the depth of the characterization if you haven’t read the previous books in the series first. 

The super fine print: I received a copy of When A Secret Kills in exchange for my review. I was not obligated to provide a positive review. All opinions are my own.

The post Book Review :: When A Secret Kills by Lynette Eason appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

Grace and peace,
Lynn

The post Let’s Talk About Poetry appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

It began when I was quite young, was encouraged by my family, and as an adult, I’ve never attempted to get over it.

It gets me in trouble occasionally…say when I stay up until 1AM reading a book I’ve read several times before. I mean, who does that?! I. Already. Know. How. It. Ends.

Anyway.

I think one of the best times to start a young human off on the path to a lifelong love of books is while they are still in the womb.

Don’t give an outfit they are going to wear for three hours and then puke on. Why not give a book!

Give books that are fun. Give books that have significance. Give books they won’t be able to touch until they’re ten. Give books they can chew on as soon as they can figure out how to get it into their mouths.

I love my books and I take care of them, but it doesn’t bother me for a baby to destroy a book. They will learn later not to rip, or eat, the pages. For now, I just want them to appreciate the feel of a book in their hands, the way the pages turn, or the mystery of those lines and squiggles that someday they will learn are words.

I know, I know….babies born today will be reading books on iPads in Kindergarten. Whatever. Unless you plan on handing over your Kindle to your newborn, I say start with a real book. One they can slobber on and chuck across the room.

So, here are my top picks for baby showers and newborns.

1. The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones and Jago. Hands down the BEST children’s Bible out there. The subtitle is “Every Story Whispers His Name” and it does! I find myself in tears as I read the Old Testament stories and see how they point to Jesus. Every baby needs their own copy. (Every adult does, too, just sayin’).

2. The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown, illustrated by Clement Hurd. This is a classic, but it’s also a beautiful story of unconditional love and relentlessly pursuing grace.

3. I Love You Because You’re You by Liza Baker, illustrated by David McPhail. All three of my children love this book and it’s another one that gives us a glimpse into the way our Father loves us.

4. Dr. Suess books. You can’t go wrong here. Such fun words and random combinations. Dr. Suess was my first favorite author and I still love reading him to my kids today.

5. Board books. We love the board books by Dr. Suess, Al Perkins, and others. These are just the right size for tiny hands, they can’t tear the pages. While they may lose a few cardboard corners to tiny teeth, these books will stand up to a lot of wear and tear. With that said, I think we are on our fourth copy of Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb!

6. The “That’s Not My….” series by Usborne Books. (Ours were written by Fiona Watt and illustrated by Rachel Wells). We own a bunch of these. Fun, silly, with lots of great colors and textures for babies to explore. My older two still enjoy them.

7. Little Blue Truck by Alice Schertle, illustrated by Jill McElmurry. We just got this and it has become a household favorite. A fun story with animal sounds, trucks, friendship, and a nice reminder that every person, no matter how small, has a big contribution to make.

8. Eric Carle books. Vibrant, fun, with lots of great repeats young children can follow. Brown Bear, Brown Bear was the first book Emma memorized and then “read” to us. Come to think of it, I think our copy was loved to death. I’ll have to get another one.

Those are my top picks for babies. I have so many more to share, but I’m saving them for the toddlers and preschoolers list…stay tuned!

The post Best Books for Baby Showers and Newborns appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

Every now and then I come to a place where I need to step away from books about writing and spend some time with books about living.

The crazy thing is that once I owned up to the fact that “I AM A WRITER” I found that just about everything I read has a writing application. Sometimes a big one.

The post Write Undaunted! appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

A few months ago, I introduced you to my friend Emily when she reviewed Life with Lily by Suzanne Woods Fisher and Mary Ann Kinsinger. Emily is a fantastic writer and a great lover of books and I was thrilled when she agreed to come back and review the second book in The Adventures of Lily Lapp series for us.

Here’s a little info about A New Home for Lily:

Lily Lapp is moving with her family to Pennsylvania to join
a new Amish community. In this small town where changes –
and newcomers – are greeted with suspicion, Lily must adjust
to a new school, new friends and Aaron Yoder, an annoying
boy who teases her relentlessly. Still, there are exciting new
developments, including an attic full of adventure and a new
baby brother. But why, Lily wonders, can’t God bring her just
one sister?

Now, once again, please welcome Emily.

A New Home for Lily was very fun to read. Lily is getting used to a new Amish community and new friends. The books starts where the last one ended (I really like when books do that). Lily has to wear new clothes in the new community and I like how she had to wait for them. 

The thing that I did not like in this book were the children Aaron and Effie. They were very mean to Lily and her family.

The great thing about The Adventures of Lily Lapp series is the chapters are not too long. I can always squeeze in a chapter before bed or after my work is complete at school. I enjoyed this book and cannot wait to read number three.

I would recommend this book to any girl who wants to read something kind and good.

~~~~~~
Lynn here: Thanks, Emily! Great job!

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It’s the first Thursday of February, so I’m over at The Write Conversation today, talking about Rumors of Water by L.L. Barkat.

Come join the conversation!

The post Rumors of Water appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

One of the things Irene Hannon does so well is to give us a peek into the world of different types of law enforcement. In her new “Private Justice” series, she’s taken us into the world of private investigators.

As it turns out, they aren’t all 100 pounds overweight, kicked back behind a massive desk, and puffing on a smelly cigar.

The post Vanished by Irene Hannon appeared first on Lynn H. Blackburn.

As I’ve been mulling over the idea of how big God is and the miracle it is that He became flesh, I’ve also been thinking about how often God does things in ways that are both unexpected and incomprehensible.

I’m wondering how often I don’t see God’s hand because what’s happening doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m wondering how much Joy I miss out on because instead of resting in His plan, I’m arguing with Him about His methods or pointing out to Him that what He’s doing doesn’t seem like a good idea.

I could go on and on about it, but Christmas is twelve days away and my guess is you don’t have time for me to go on and on!

So instead I thought I’d leave you with one of my favorite passages from The Last Battle.

I love The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. (Please don’t ask how many times I’ve read them – the answer is, “I have no idea and if we don’t quit talking about it I’m going to have to start reading them again!”)

At this point in the story, the characters have been fighting all around a small stable and are now inside.

Ponder this, and find the Joy!

“It seems, then,” said Tirian, smiling himself, “that the Stable seen from within and the Stable seen from without are two different places.”

“Yes,” said the Lord Digory. “Its inside is bigger than its outside.”

“Yes,” said Queen Lucy. “In our world too, a Stable once had something inside it that was bigger than our whole world.”

C.S. Lewis ~ The Last Battle

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