Each month I share the books I have been reading as a part of The 2016 Reading Challenge, as well as books I have read for fun.  I hope that these quick reviews provide you with some new titles to add to your list of Books to Read.

What I’m Reading This Month

Adult Fiction

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

I just finished reading this and had so much fun doing so!  I described The Bookshop on the Corner to my friends as “it’s like reading a chick flick.”  If you’re looking for a fun, light, easy read that (bonus!) is about books and reading, then you’ll love this new Jenny Colgan novel.  Twenty-nine-year-old Nina just lost her job as a librarian because the books are being phased out of the library.  The shy Nina who rarely takes a risk suddenly finds herself purchasing a van in Scotland and setting up a mobile bookstore.  Along the way she meets new people, gains some confidence, and (of course) finds love.  If you’re looking for a fun book to read in front of a roaring fire, this is it!

Adult Nonfiction

Parenting toward the Kingdom: Orthodox Christian Principles of Child-Rearing by Dr. Philip Mamalakis

Within the first chapter I was in tears.  Not out of guilt for the things that I had been doing wrong, but out of hope and awe for the things that God wants to do through parents. Dr. Mamalakis writes, “This book is not about how to be a perfect parent but how to be perfected in Christ as a parent.”  It is not a book filled with empty promises of parenting techniques that will solve all of your problems. Instead it is a book filled with principles and practical examples that will help you parent with the end in mind–the ultimate salvation of both our children and ourselves.  Whether your children are two-weeks old or twenty-two-years old, I highly recommend Parenting toward the Kingdom.  (You can read more in my full review.)

Young Adult Fiction

I am a 7th grade reading teacher, so I try to read quite a bit of YA lit each month in order to better recommend books to my students.

Brotherhood by A.B. Westrick

Set in Richmond, Virginia during the Reconstruction, Brotherhood tells the story of two brothers, their relationship, and their struggle to find their place in the new South.  Highlighting racial tension and the beginnings of the Ku Klux Klan, this coming-of-age novel tells a powerful story for both kids and adults.

Gabi: A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Gabi is a seventeen-year-old Hispanic girl in her final year of high school.  She has big dreams for the future despite the things that just keep getting in her way.  Filled with humor, quality story-telling, and feminism, I definitely enjoyed reading Gabi: A Girl in Pieces.   (Quick warning: There is some language and reference to a sexual assault. Definitely a book for high schoolers and not middle schoolers.)

100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith

This is the one book that I read this month that I just plain didn’t like.  I have quite a wide variety of genres I enjoy, writing styles I appreciate, and stories I can get into, but this wasn’t one of them.  There was entirely too much gratuitous sexual humor, overuse of profanity, and a story that couldn’t redeem those two flaws.

Bad Blood by Jennifer Lynn Barnes

I started Jennifer Lynn Barnes’s The Naturals series last year and was instantly hooked.  It has been called a Criminal Minds for the YA crowd–telling the stories of five young people who have natural abilities that help them solve crimes.  Bad Blood is the final in the series, so if you’re interested make sure you start with the first in the series: The Naturals.

Children’s Fiction

Shepherding Sam by Melinda Johnson

Shepherding Sam is the story of a corgi puppy named Saucer, who is a herding dog without a herd, and Sam, a human who has trouble fitting in with his herd.  Saucer comes to live at a monastery where he settles in to life with the nuns and other animals.  One day Aunt Eva brings her nephew Sam, along with other children, to the monastery for a visit.  Saucer decides that Sam needs some looking after–whether he wants it or not.

What are you reading this month?

(Linked to Quick Lit at Modern Mrs. Darcy.)

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