Welcome to my book update post where I share what books I finished recently + my honest thoughts and star ratings of them.
My Reading Goals for 2021
For 2021, I set a goal of reading 3 books per week — 1 fiction book, 1 non-fiction book, and 1 audiobook each week. I know this is an audacious goal, but reading is something I love and it’s a way I learn, challenge my mind, improve as a writer and communicator, and am refreshed and encouraged through inspiring stories.
I have a few shelves full of books (mostly that I’ve gotten free), so I decided to choose 52 books from off my shelf to read this year (see my list of 52 books I plan to read in 2021 here). I’ll also read other books that I find/am sent that pique my interest. Plus, I plan to go through a lot of audiobooks (I get mine free from the Libby app).
Here are three books I finished recently…
If you feel like something is missing in your spiritual walk, if you have always struggled with wondering what you believe about the Holy Spirit, or if you are tired from trying to power through life in your own strength, I think this book this book will encourage and bless you.
I appreciated Jeannie’s honest words of how she’s wrestled through what she writes in this book. As someone who — just in the last few years — has began to truly understand the Holy Spirit and what it means to live life relying upon upon Him, I resonated with so much of this book. I highly recommend every Christian read this book and take it to heart… it just might completely change your entire life!
Verdict: 4 stars
This book caught my eye because it had some foster care themes in it AND it was set in Wichita, KS (my home town). It was definitely a different genre of fiction than I usually read and I feel like I sort of slogged through a lot of it. Some of it felt sort of tedious and repetitive and some of it I found a little clunky and hard to follow.
If you like FBI-related fiction with a strong Christian perspective, that also has some fairly dark themes, then this might be your type of book. Personally, I didn’t like that so many details of the plot were revealed right from the get-go. I also figured out the ending pretty quickly and found that the book was fairly predictable and didn’t draw me in and make me want to meet the characters (which is always the mark of a really good fiction book for me).
Verdict: 2 stars
I felt like this book had so much promise — and it started out strong. But it fell flat for me after that.
I thought that the story could have been told in such a compelling and engaging way as it seemed like it had the potential to be such an interesting story. But the way that the book was written seemed to jump around and share a lot of mundane details and then skip over other important details or character development.
I was still inspired by how one person had such a profound impact on the course of Jimmy Wayne’s life, but I just wanted so much more from this book than it delivered.
Verdict: I’m giving it 2.5 stars — but am rounding up to 3 stars to be generous, especially since I appreciated how it raises awareness for foster care.
