The Saturday Six

One.

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I know, I know. We're a whole week into the new year now, but if you're still looking for some adventure, and most specifically - some reading adventure - check out this challenge from Bethany House Publishers. Could be kind of fun to track down books like this to read!

Two.

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This story....THIS story. This is why I think it's so crucial to keep a "family altar" of moments when God moved in specific ways. And it's just a poignant story of God at work in our now.

Three.

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Ryan and I walked through some seasons of no and not now in 2015. Those were hard moments. Some I'm probably still not over {because I tend to marinate like that}. But how I loved and needed these words from Kelly Balarie...when God says no.

Four. 

A few weeks ago, I told you about the Adorenaments collection and why I loved it so much. I own one set but really wanted to get other sets so I can have a whole tree devoted to it next Christmas. I was a little on the giddy side when I found out they're running a sale that ends TOMORROW - where you can get the sets for 50% off when you enter the code NewYear50 at checkout. Two sets for the price of one is a good deal! Here is the site to order.{By the way, the two additional sets I ordered arrived this week and they are as magnificent in person as the first one I got. So pleased!!!}

Five.

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Read this story. Rachael Phillips tells a funny {sometimes in a shiver-inducing sort of way} memory - and a great reminder of the strength of what really forges deep love.

Six.

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I am absolutely delighted that Jody Hedlund's newest novel, Undaunted Hope landed in my mailbox FIRST, of all the books I asked to read this year, so it could be the first read of the year for me.

Jody, as I've mentioned before on here, along with her husband, were my youth pastors when they were newlyweds and college students at Taylor University and back when I was stumbling through the height of awkwardness. I had no idea back then that she loved to write, because she spent her time pouring into those of us who comprised the youth group. And every time I see her name on the cover of a new book, I am thrilled to be able to say I know her and so proud of the commitment she has made to putting great stories on paper.

Undaunted Hope is the 3rd in the Beacons of Hope series: a whole series of historical books set in lighthouse communities. {Be still, my heart!!!} While I have read and loved Jody's books before, I am behind on this series {thank you busy job from the last few years} so this is the first of this particular series I'd read. I jumped right in with no issue whatsoever.

The book is set in the late 1800's in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the mining town of Eagle Harbor. Young, single Tessa Taylor has just arrived to take a teaching position in a small community that she quickly learns is governed {and by that, I mean dictated} by one man: Percival Updegraff.

Tessa arrives in Eagle Harbor with two intentions: to make a difference through her teaching and to escape the poor choices of her past. Nothing else matters. Until, of course, she meets Alex Bjorklund, the assistant lightkeeper. Tessa has great personal disdain for lighthouses because of the losses they brought to her past, but there's something about Alex that brings her to visit Eagle Harbor's lighthouse far more often than she planned.

Jody is not only a lover of storytelling, but she's a lover of history, and I know from reading her blog that she heavily researches her books to make them as historically and factually accurate as she can. For this book, she actually stayed in Eagle Harbor and even more interesting - she stayed in the assistant lightkeeper's cottage for an entire week as she researched this area. She visited coal mines and real people who had lived in the community back in that time, weaving pieces of their true stories into the suspense and romance of her fiction. I love that about this book. I love it that something of real people we never had a chance to know can now be preserved in a well-written novel.

I will say if you're very cautious about any of this in the content of what you read, there are hints of violence and sexual misconduct throughout the book, but they are told carefully and are hedged with the truth of Scripture, and the balance of both consequences and grace/forgiveness. The book itself is filled with a wonderful blend of relationships, faith, history, education, romance, desire, sorrow, suspense, and hope.

 Tessa, Alex, and all the characters are easy to picture and easy to love or despise as the occasion demands. The story was compelling and the chance to learn about history, a part of the country I'm not so familiar with and lighthouses along the way made this book a perfect start to a new year of reading.

I will be going back to catch up on the first two books in this series and will also look forward to the fourth book releasing in June.

Jody, I'm so proud of you. Your books are a treasure and I'm grateful you write them. Well done on this novel!

* Thanks, Bethany House, for providing a copy of this book for me to review. All opinions are my own! *