If you ask me, eBooks are becoming the new blogs.  I see them popping up everywhere from blog authors.  Instead of trying to make money off the pennies from advertising, they’re bundling all the info up and making more on one eBook than traditional authors make.  It’s smart.  And it’s good for the readers.  No longer do you have to sift through categories and searches on a blog when you want someone’s expertise in written form. 

eBooks aren’t just pervading the blogging world.  Many non-techie people I know in real life are buying Kindles and iPads and are ditching paper books for the eBook. 

And so.  I’m a blogger.  And a reader.  And yes, I’m tossing around the idea of an eBook.  And when I saw Sarah Mae had made over $20,000 on one eBook on cleaning, my ears perked up.  I couldn’t wait to read her latest eBook on, well, how to sell an eBook.

As a techie, I kept hoping for more technical instructions on how to do the thing but Sarah Mae is quick to let you know she’s definitely not a techie and relies on paid help.  Other than that, I felt like the book was straight to the point and well-written.  I particularly liked:

• Her tip on getting a sponsor to pay for the book
• Details on getting it on Amazon
• Recommendations on who she actually used for help

If you are thinking about writing an eBook I highly recommend this read.  Sarah Mae’s techniques obviously are proven and hope to one day put them to work!

Last week my friend Jo Ann visited us in Florida and had read it on her road trip down.  She raved about it.  No sooner had I gotten back from Florida this weekend and my mom and sister were both on Facebook raving about it.  Last night I picked the copy up from Mom’s.

The book itself is a great read.  I noticed after finishing that it’s co-written by Lynn Vincent who also wrote Same Kind of Different as Me.  The writing style and pacing completely made sense and accounts for why I liked the style of both of them so much.  In the same way Same Kind of Different As Me had me up for nights just plowing through, I had this shorter book read in a few hours.  I felt like you had a clear picture of the setting, characters and storyline.  They did a great job of unfolding the story in much the same way they experienced it.  So bravo on that end.

I have to preface my review of the content by another review I did of The Shack.  I walked into that book unprepared.  I didn’t realize it was fictional.  I spent much of the book going, “Really?”  Beyond that, the conversations with God supposedly happened and even those, I still question because they don’t align with much of my current theology.  Basically, The Shack was well written but I don’t believe it.  So going into this book I was skeptical.  Really skeptical.  Here is a family who is writing a book based on things a FOUR year old said.  The biggest claim people say is, but that’s the point!  A four year old wouldn’t know these things!  And that’s right.  I agree.  A four year old wouldn’t know those things.  But an adult would.  And a creative adult can write any story any way he wants just like in The Shack.  So I’m not saying the proof isn’t astounding.  I’m just saying that a deceptive, creative set of people could write this book.  There wasn’t anything about heaven that someone hasn’t conjectured already.

HOWEVER.  Unlike when I read The Shack, I felt complete peace and joy reading the book.  When I’ve read and listened to interviews of The Burpos online since then, I feel there is a sense of honesty there.  They are just a family that experienced something supernatural and they’re putting it out there, no matter what you think.  I’ve experienced that a time or two and know what it’s like to put yourself out there.

All of the things he said has lined up with Scripture, which I appreciated that they did throughout the book.  In each interview, they are consistent in their message and don’t dodge questions.

Is there a small part of me that is still skeptical?  Of course.  People are capable of much more deception that you realize.  But God is capable of what happened to this little boy too.  So if I went in 50% sure of this, I came out 99% sure of it.

Which means.  What an awesome story.  What a good God we serve.  How much more do I want to have that child-like faith.  How awesome is the comfort so many people can receive from their story.  And what color is my sash going to be??

I give it two thumbs and a Must Read!

Today begins my participation in the Radical Read-along over at Marla Taviano’s.  If you’ve read Crazy Love by Francis Chan, this book may not floor you.  If you haven’t, well, buckle your seatbelt.

Honestly I had great doubts about reading this book.  I have read so many books and while my heart has truly changed I feel like there’s some big next step I haven’t taken yet and I’m scared that this will just be another book to tuck away on my shelf.  I’m truly wanting to live radically.

There are two ideas that he presents in this first chapter.  The first is that Christ asks for radical abandonment.

This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality.  We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus.  We do have to love him in a way that makes our closest relationships in this world look like hate.  And it is entirely possible that he will tell us to sell everything we have give it to the poor.  But we don’t want to believe it.  We are afraid of what it might mean for our lives.

See that key word for me “afraid”.  And we know how I feel about fear.  I don’t want that to be the reason I don’t live radically.  For the same reason he gives in the last part of this chapter.  The cost of nondiscipleship is high.

The prices of our nondiscipleship is high for those without Christ.  It is high also for the poor of the world.  Consider the cost when Christians ignore Jesus’ commands to sell their possessions and give to the poor and instead choose to spend their resources on better comforts, larger homes, nicer cars and more stuff.  Consider the cost when these Christians gather in churches and choose to spend millions of dollars on nice buildings to drive up to, cushioned chairs to sit in, and endless programs to enjoy for themselves.  Consider the cost for the starving multitudes who sit outside the gate of contemporary Christian affluence.

Ouch. Ouch, ouch, ouch.  Just today I was planning on blogging about an awesome belt I got from Anthropologie on Saturday.  It’s a super cute belt and there’s nothing wrong with belts but it was an extravagance and bought at the cost of someone poor.  To be honest, I don’t know where to draw the line.  I don’t know when God asks you to sell it all for the poor and I don’t know when it’s ok to keep it.  I don’t know.  But I do know the $28 I spent on that belt on a whim would have given 28 Africans water for a year.  And I don’t know, that just doesn’t sit well with me.  It makes me want to do something radical.  Like selling a brand new, freaking cute belt.

So I’m selling the belt.

It’s going to be a stake in the ground, that little something I can do, a baby step of selling possessions in giving to the poor and most importantly, water for 28 people for the next year.

If you want this belt for $28, please email me. Your money will go 100% to Blood Water Mission, a worthy cause, the likes of where my money should have originally gone.  If I don’t sell it here, I’ll put it on eBay or Craigslist.  I just have to do something.

Something radical.

Join the read-along here or be inspired by others’ posts.

If you read Pete Wilson’s Plan B or read Jon Acuff’s, Stuff Christians Like, you might remember the phrase, “The Gift of Going Second”.  In a nutshell, it is when one person confesses to a struggle and then another feels the freedom to share their same struggle as well.  It’s a gift.  In fact, after I read Plan B, I posted Me Too.   If you take that concept and blow it out into a full book, I think that’s what Permission to Speak Freely is getting at.  Many times we keep our struggles and sin hidden for fear of anything from a disapproving look to a job or marriage loss.  And many times the fear is not unfounded, particularly in Christian circles.  However, the freeing benefits of confession can far outweigh any risks involved.

In the first half of Permission to Speak Freely, Anne covers her personal struggles and finding her way to confession with others and help herself and others to unload their burdens.  The last half covers the confessions of Adam and Eve and the Prodigal Son and then on to the Gift of Going Second.  I read the first half with rapt attention, excited to see where it was going.  While moving into the scriptural tiebacks, I was nodding my head.  She finished with the gift of going second and maybe because it was not a new concept to me, I felt like it dragged on a bit.  I wholeheartedly believe in it, but felt like it was drawn out, possibly a little stuffed for word count.

I also don’t think the book ever tackled the answer of the original question.  Or at least not head on.  I feel that she tackled confession on a personal level, not public, which is what my expectations from her original question were.  Many of her examples were confession between two people but didn’t address church members openly discussing taboo questions or struggles.  I felt like maybe there was just one more chapter that needed to be written.  And maybe that’s what we’re supposed to go off and write on our own.  What does speaking freely look like to us?  Or maybe my expectations were a bit misguided.

The book is absolutely gorgeous. I  love the size, the graphics, the artwork both in and outside the book.  It’s a book you want to pick up and read simply from the aesthetics.  I believe the confessions given in the book are worth the book itself.

All in all, I walked away with a better understanding of Anne, whom I respect so much.  More importantly I’m walking away with another ounce of courage to always be authentic and share my struggles, questions and even hope.

I have two copies of this book and would love to give one away.  If you’d like to receive a copy, please leave a comment below.  For extra entries, you can tweet it.  Please come back here and let me know you did!

If you’re not familiar, the five love languages are words of affirmation, touch, quality time, acts of service and gifts.  We all need love in all forms but we especially feel loved through one of these.  We also tend to love other people in our own language.  I’m primarily acts of service with words of affirmation as a secondary.  Scott is touch, touch and more touch.  As you can imagine, many times our languages don’t mix!

I was pretty sure Emma was quality time and words of affirmation secondary and Lexi was touch and words of affirmation.  After reading the book, I’m more convinced that is the case.  At least for now, because they can change.

I may spend a lot of time with Lexi and do a lot for her, even tell her I love her, but if I were to never hug her, she’d be devastated.  Same for Emma.  I can tell her, do things for her, buy stuff for her but until I sit beside her and give her undivided attention, she’s like an empty sponge.  Her love bank is empty.  I remember her writing in her journal in Kindergarten that the favorite thing I did as a mother for her was play Barbie’s with her.  I think that’s part of the reason I’ve been so grateful to have stayed home with her.  She’s usually ok as long as I’m nearby.  It’s no fault of hers or mine, that’s just the way she’s wired.  Lexi can be very upset at something, and a quick hug and kiss will sooth many anxieties.  She loves you to scratch or rub her back and arms.  She likes to hold your hand.  She lives on hugs and kisses.

What I love about this book is it not only explains the languages and gives you ideas on how to spot it (two things I was pretty sure I knew how to do), it also gives you guidance on how this affects discipline, learning and even anger issues.   Ever see just a mad kid?  Oh yes, I have.  The book suggests a parent could change the way they are expressing their love to them and a lot of that would change.  Not all, but most anger issues are rooted in a lack of love.  Well, let me rephrase, it’s not a lack of love but a lack of expressive it in the right way.  Kids are wired so that their love banks also have to be filled in order to learn properly.  The book gives you lots of suggestions and scenarios to help you understand how to wade through these tough issues.

I would go so far as to suggest this as a pre-requisite to parenting.  As I knew about the love languages for lots of years, I was paying attention to how I expressed my love to the girls but I think this book gave me an extra insight to how to relate it to children and the damage it can do if we don’t.

Can’t recommend it enough!  Check it out on Amazon!

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But Pete Wilson’s book Plan B doesn’t dwell in the despair of Plan B’s.  He helps you see that maybe Plan B was the right route after all.  In a word, this book is hope.  Using stories from the Bible and modern-day experiences, Pete walks the reader through all kind of feelings and perspectives of those living out Plan B.

Can I be honest and say when I picked this book up I wasn’t sure I’d get anything out of it?  Not that I doubted Pete’s abilities in the least.  I’ve learned a lot from Pete in the past and I knew he’d have a word.  I just wasn’t sure if it was one for me.  I haven’t had a catastrophic or even alternate event in my life to make me doubt God.  But let’s be clear.  Plan B is coming.  As Matthew Turner says in his review, “if you’re working on plan A, Plan B is a good prerequisite.”  But I’d take it further than that.  I may not be in Plan B right now, but there are scores of people around me that are.  And I can’t tell you the hope the book has given me that I can offer others in need that are in Plan B.  God has not forgotten us.  There is hope in our Plan B’s.

While reading, I marked several passages and thought I’d share some of my favorite talking points.

• For those in Plan B, you may feel like life is spiraling out of control.  However, in the chapter Don’t Run Pete explains, “Your dreams may not be happening, and things aren’t turning out the way you expected, but that doesn’t mean your life is spinning out of control.  It just means you’re not in control.”
• In the chapter Your Jordan, Pete says that in most Plan B situations, it is a lot like standing at side of the Jordan river with the enemy chasing you.  It seems impossible to get through alive.  The fear can be overwhelming.  He asks the reader to identify that Jordan in your life and says that your Jordan always involves fear.  The good news is God has gone before us and we shouldn’t be afraid.
• From Whiplash, “it’s often a process, not a final destination.”  He gives the example of someone not getting the job they interviewed for and the person assuming they’d missed God’s will by not getting it.  He says God may simply wanted the person to learn something from the interview.   It’s good to remember life is a process and God is in it all.
• In the chapter Whiplash, Pete reminds us to trust in the person of God and not in our circumstances.

And my favorite passage of all:

“You’ve got to stop looking at your shattered dreams and your unmet expectations as something God is doing to you.  He’s not doing something to you.  But he might be doing something through you.  He might be doing something in you.”

God wouldn’t let us go through these Plan B’s for no purpose.  I always love Beth Moore’s saying, “He’s either doing it for His glory or your benefit.”  He’s not torturing us.  He doesn’t love us less.  But He is allowing it so that we might be transformed.

I can’t recommend this book enough for everyone.  If you aren’t in Plan B, I know there is someone you can hand this to you and say, “Here’s some hope.”  I’d love to hand this copy to someone here with the gift of hope.  Leave a comment on this post and I’ll draw a random winner on Wednesday at 9pm. 

It’s been several books since I’ve picked up fiction, devoting myself to several Christian non-fiction books.  I had really hoped to lose myself in this book and enjoy a quick, romantic read.  Had it not been for my commitment to finish and review the book, I have to say I may not have finished it.  I had a hard time connecting with Carley.  The storylines were predictable and sometimes forced.  The dialogue at times was out of character.  I felt like the story was more about Noah and his brother Samuel more than Carley and Noah.  I think Carley’s hang ups about her infertility were unfounded with Noah and her fear from Darlton was not developed enough for the reader to understand the fear.  It was difficult to enjoy a book that was almost solely based in a hospital room and when a lot of the conversation dealt with shunning. I felt like Carley and Noah’s story was rushed towards the end of the book and I would have liked to see some more conversations between them throughout.   I think mostly the book was lacking in character development.  It seemed the author was more concerned with moving the story forward and describing the medical process and procedures than introducing the reader to the characters and seeing substantial development take place.  With the beautiful countryside I’m sure they were in, I felt like scene was lacking as well.  I had a difficult time trying to picture the locations and getting a sense of what the characters were seeing.

I did enjoy learning about the Amish as this was my first Amish fiction book.  I felt like the author did a good job of weaving pieces of the storylines together, especially when ancillary characters were able to move the storyline forward.  The writing was the best when Carley stood up for her beliefs or when there was tension between other characters. I felt like the underlying storyline of the clinic gave the reader something to drive towards and enjoyed all of the community’s “emergencies”.

Overall, I’d give this book a 6 out of 10.

This book was provided on behalf of Thomas Nelson publishing in exchange for the review.  If you would like to participate in the book review program, please visit BookSneeze.com