Finding Jesus at the Border

Finding Jesus at the Border: Opening Our Hearts to the Stories of Our Immigrant Neighbors is an intriguing juxtaposition of story and Bible study. Author Dr. Julia Lambert Fogg is not only a professor of Religion at California Lutheran University with specializations in New Testament and Early Christianity, but also serves as a minister at a Lutheran church. The specific church where she serves offer two distinct services. One is comprised of mostly older English speaking individuals of Scandinavian descent whose grandparents had started the church. The second service is comprised of predominantly Spanish speaking immigrant families. Fogg combines these two perspectives into a marvelous and very readable book.

In each chapter Fogg shares stories from her ministry experiences and frequently shares the story of a specific immigrant. After setting the stage with this current day story, a biblical story is examined through this perspective. Fogg expertly addresses a wide variety of issues that relate to immigration including economics, working conditions, sexual assault, power struggles, and many more. To re-read and consider familiar Bible stories using these same lenses is quite eye-opening. While a reader may not agree with Fogg on every issue, her perspective is important to read and consider due to her first hand experience and academic expertise.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Finding Jesus at the Border from Baker-Brazos Press via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Uncommon Ground

Uncommon Ground: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference is a recently released book of essays edited by Timothy Keller and John Inazu. The individuals who contributed essays to this work represent a wide variety of perspectives and careers from ministers, lawyers, authors, songwriters, and more. Some of the individuals will be very well-known such as rapper Lecrae while others may not be as familiar.

Uncommon Ground is organized into three sections Framing Our Engagement, Communicating Our Engagement, and Embodying Our Engagement. The emphasis truly is on how to engage others by finding a common ground with others who do not necessarily share beliefs. Each section has four essays that relate to the overarching topic. Each essay stands alone although the authors demonstrate that they have engaged with each other regarding the essays. I found each essay to be thought-provoking and delightful as the authors truly shared from the heart about their own experiences. However, each essay must be savored. This book is not one to be read quickly but needs to be mulled over. Uncommon Ground would be a wonderful selection for a discussion group. It also has potential as textbook for a class on how to engage culture.

I received a complementary copy from Thomson Nelson via NetGalley. All opinions are my own and I was not required to provide a positive opinion.

The Socialite

I had recently read several books by J'nell Ciesielski and found them enjoyable so when I had the opportunity to read her newest book The Socialite I jumped on the opportunity. Ciesielski's prior books were set during World War I and World War II. Her newest follows suit and is set during World War II in Paris. In a nutshell, you have two aristocratic sisters from Britain, a German officer, and a barkeeper who is involved in the resistance and tasked with making sure the sisters get home safely. Lots of tension exists between the sisters, between the two gentleman, and one sister and the barkeeper who try to deny their growing attraction.

All in all, I found The Socialite an enjoyable book that kept me engaged until the very end. However, in some ways it was a bit predictable--partially because I had read Ciesielski's other books and partially because you know how these books are going to turn out. But, there are some surprises that do keep you on your toes and surprise you until the very last page. I did notice that although published by Thomas Nelson, a Christian publishing house, there was no mention of God, church, or anything remotely religious or Christian about the book which is not typical of the Christian fiction genre. I did find that the book was very "clean" without any language or blatant sex. However, Ciesielski definitely indicates physical attraction between two main characters and one sister is definitely the mistress of the German officer. Being set in a war, some violence is present but not overly descriptive. The Socialite is a put your feet up, enjoyable, get lost in a good book story.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The Socialite from Thomas Nelson Publishing via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Book of Lost Friends

The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate delves into the plight of freed slaves during the reconstruction period and how slavery still impacts communities today. Jumping back and forth between 1987 Louisiana and 1887 Louisiana and Texas, The Book of Lost Friends tells the story of Hannie, a freed slave, and those who live in the town that is still controlled by the family of her former slave master.

Hannie finds herself in a tight situation along with her master's daughter and her master's illegitimate daughter. The situations they find themselves in demonstrate the difficulty of being African-American in that time period and being a woman. While in their desperate situation, the find lost friend letters published in a newspaper which helped former slaves to find family members who had been sold to other plantations. They collected this information in a book during their travels. Meanwhile in the current day, a new teacher unfamiliar with the social do's and don'ts of her new community has her students at a low-income school do research on their ancestors. The social codes in this town and the who's related to whom all trace back to the former plantation owners and their off-spring.

Wingate does a marvelous job of depicting the hardships that former slaves experienced and how they were not really free during Reconstruction and even more recently. She also does a marvelous job of showing how those same restrictions and social codes in many ways still exist today and how the former plantation owners simply moved into being factory owners, town mayors, and other "big whigs." This was a difficult book to read simply because these are difficult topics to consider and Wingate demonstrates these are still issues that impact the world today. Highly recommended.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The Book of Lost Friends from Random House Publishing-Ballantine via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

The German Heiress

The German Heiress by Anika Scott takes place just after World War II in Germany under British occupation. Centering on the story of Clara Falkenberg, The German Heiress brings in several other stories that all related to Clara's story and specifically to how she is being pursued for what she thinks are considered war crimes. The story follows her as she returns to her home city in attempts to find out what happened to friends and family members while being followed, living in abandoned buildings, and rummaging for what food she could find.

The story is quite engaging and you want to keep reading to find out what happens, particularly to some of the minor characters. Yet, as the story portrays someone who was a German capitalist who was benefiting from the war in many ways, I did not want to like the main character. The German Heiress demonstrates how so many people were caught in the middle or in the proverbial rock and hard place during an impossible situation. It also gives the stark depiction of how hard times were in Germany and all of Europe during the years immediately following the war. A thought provoking book with a bit of a cliff-hanger at the end.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received The German Heiress from Harper Collins Publishing via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.

Her Hidden Hope

Her Hidden Hope by Jill Lynn
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Her Hidden Hope is the fourth book in a series titled The Colorado Grooms. It's a nice, light breezy read, but I really enjoyed that the characters are imperfect, flawed people. Without going into details, the main characters had messed up but moved on as well and put their lives back together. All in all an enjoyable read demonstrating grace, mercy, and love.

I received a complementary copy and was not required to write a positive review.

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Becoming Mrs. Lewis

Becoming Mrs. Lewis by Patti Callahan has just been released in an expanded edition which includes discussion questions, a timeline, and several other "extras." Originally published in 2018, Becoming Mrs. Lewis was awarded the 2019 Christy Award. Knowing this, when the opportunity came about to read this book, I grabbed it because it's C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman.

A large part of this books consists of letters written back and forth between Lewis and Davidman while she was still married to her first husband. As Davidman had recently become a believer and was introduced to C.S. Lewis' non-fiction works, it was natural for her write as she was a published author herself. As their friendship grew, life circumstances took her to England where she met Lewis in person. Later returning to England with her two young sons, she continued her friendship with Lewis who also helped her to find a school for her sons and introduced her to others. During this time frame their relationship was very platonic but Callahan's version of the story definitely shows how Joy was finding herself falling for him.

One of the first things to remember when reading this book is that while based on the true story of Lewis and Davidman's exchange of letters and then marriage,it is fiction and Callahan emphasizes that she imagined the letters based on the research she did. I did find reading these imagined letters and the story which is written from Joy Davidman's point of view a bit uncomfortable as it definitely plays up a physical attraction that Joy felt for Lewis. However, it also demonstrates the humanity of someone whom we are prone to put on a pedestal. After reading Becoming Mrs. Lewis, I want to go back and re-read Lewis's work and in some cases read for the first time. I also want to reacquaint myself with Davidman's work which I had previously studied as an English major.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received Becoming Mrs. Lewis from Thomas Nelson Publishing via NetGalley. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.