Where The Fire Falls by Karen Barnett

This book is the second in the “Vintage National Parks” novel series taking place in Yosemite National Park. Olivia Rutherford is hired to do a series of water color pictures depicting the scenery of Yosemite. Clark Johnson is a disillusioned pastor, working as a park guide, who was the victim of false accusations at his previous church. Olivia has some secrets of her own that she is dealing with and as they together experience the beauty of Yosemite, they both discover insights into who they are and struggle to find their way forward.

It was interesting to see what Yosemite was like in the 1920’s and would be of special interest to those who have visited there. This story is part mystery and part romance. At times, I felt the story did not mesh well together and there were some unanswered questions for me at the end of the story. It still was a light and enjoyable read however.

This book will be released by Waterbrook Publishers on June 5, 2018.

I received this advanced copy from Blogging for Books for this review.    

Nothing To Prove by Jennie Allen

Written by Jennie Allen, the founder of IF:Gathering, this book is helpful for all of us who have felt that we were not enough.  As she points out in the book, God knew we would never be enough. So He became enough for us. Jesus is enough.  The author encourages the reader to realize our dependency on Jesus and not to pursue meeting our needs in other ways.

The book is divided into two main sections:  Our Desert of Striving and God’s Streams of Enoughness.   Each chapter in the second section begins with a story from the Gospel of John and ends with some questions to reflect and act on. There are questions at the end of the book which would enable readers to read the book and discuss it at one time or over  a few session.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thought provoking book and was challenged by its words.  It is a book I will go back to often and reflect upon. The publisher of this book is Waterbrook. I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.