You would think the 2020 pandemic and stay at home orders would allow for more reading time. Unless you’re building a house. Which we are. Six weeks until we can live in it! (Cross your fingers!) Lately we are painting, putting up pine tongue and groove ceiling, installing kitchen cabinets, and searching for someone with tile experience. But I have managed to read a few good books in the midst of this crazy season that I would like to share with all of you…

Chasing Vines by Beth Moore
Beth has really outdone herself on this one. Her text is rich, deep, relate-able, refreshing, and a treat. I love her writing style because she can challenge you and compliment you as her reader all in one sentence. She makes you want to reach for more, be more, become more, and yet because she is vulnerable and hilarious herself, you trust her. I am enjoying reading about her adventure in Italy with her daughters and how God took her on a spiritual journey of discovery to a more fruitful life.

Half Broke by Ginger Gaffney
Heavy at times, this one is so rewarding as a horse woman that I just have to keep reading. Ginger’s writing has pulled me in like I am there at the prison ranch with her, a silent observer, willing her to succeed with both horse and human. I love the perfect title because it refers to the horses that are only half tame at best, and also the prisoners finishing their sentence at the ranch, half broken people. The author gives glimpses into her own broken life that make you think of how I, too, am broken, how we all are in some way. Her compassion for the prisoners alongside her rubs off on my own heart, and I cannot help but care for them as friends of the same world, not foes of another.

Bakerita by Rachel Conners
This wonderful brand new cookbook contains over 100 gluten free, dairy free recipes that are a delight to my sweet tooth! I’ve learned a lot about gluten free baking over recent years. I like Pamela’s flour best from mixes I have tried, especially using cup for cup in recipes that are not specifically gluten free. But lately I am using more almond flour (sometimes with half Pamela’s, half almond flour). The recipes in this book use a lot of almond and coconut flours and are delicious! The photos are beautiful, too, and hence motivating!

To Win Her Heart by Karen Witemeyer
This light-hearted romance intrigued me when I read the characters were a librarian in the old west and a blacksmith with a past. Not entirely predictable like most romantic novels, this one was a page turner especially towards the end. Simply a very enjoyable read.

Jet Girl by Caroline Johnson
I haven’t started this one yet, but it gets my heart pounding just thinking about it! Written by one of today’s best Navy aviators, this Colorado girl tells her story from debutante to cockpit.

And…bonus! Here’s my movie pick:
Harriet starring Cynthia Erivo is an incredibly inspiring film about the life of escaped slave Harriet Tubman. She used her God-given gifts and risked her own life to free many other slaves, and the story is moving to the core.

That’s it for this time, friends. Here’s to hoping I will soon be reading in our new house from my library loft!

Happy reading!