Book Reviews-2026
Tea With Elephants by Robin Jones Gunn, Fiction, 2024
Robin Jones Gunn has been a popular fiction writer among teenage and young adult girls. Now those readers have grown up, and Jones' stories have, too. This book is the first in a series called “Suitcase Sisters.” When two friends take advantage of a relative’s prepaid trip to Nairobi, Africa, they pack light but carry emotional baggage. As they enjoy giraffes, lions, zebras, and elephant sightings, life issues surface. Each has wisdom for the other that reminds us all; facing hard truths all the way to livable lessons brings just as much amazement as a trip to Africa and lasts longer.
James by Percival Everett, Pulitzer Prize Fiction, 2024
This reimagining of Mark Twain’s story of the Huckleberry Finn-Jim relationship is remarkable, disturbing, plausible, and compelling. In this story, Jim is no longer a sidekick to Huckleberry. He becomes James, a fully developed character we cheer for and empathize with. Everett dovetails the raft story that took Huckleberry away from his cruel father and Jim away from being sold and separated from his wife and daughter. Jim emerges as a man of wisdom and intelligence to survive these disastrous times. With surprising plot twists and good writing, Percival Everett has won his place in literary fiction.
Winter: The Story of a Season by Val McDermid, Memoir, 2026
I checked out the audio version of this book, based on an email recommendation. It was during a cold snap and felt appropriate. Val McDermid is a Scottish crime mystery writer, but I’m glad she diverted her attention to share her memories of a Scottish winter. I learned about Bonfire Night and Up Helly Aa’s celebration of their Norse heritage. She writes economically without sacrificing a vicarious experience. Narrated by the author in full Scottish brogue, she takes us to a frozen land with no need for a parka.
The Water Keeper by Charles Martin, Fiction, 2020
Murphy Shepherd is part priest, part detective, and part survivalist. Rescued himself, he becomes a rescuer of women caught as pawns in trafficking. But when he rescues Summer from Florida waters, who is desperate to find her daughter before it is too late, Murphy begins a new journey that will challenge and change him. With exceptional storytelling and heart-piercing words, Charles Martin tells a story that will haunt you like it has me.
The Letter Keeper by Charles Martin, Fiction, 2021
I enjoyed the first Shepherd Murphy story so much that I read the second of the four-book series quickly. This book gave more backstory about Murphy and his first wife, Marie, who he believed was dead. We also learn more about how he got into his life's calling of rescuing trafficked women. By the end of this nail-biting story of twists and turns, Murphy has a new family thanks to unexpected developments. Charles Martin writes his stories, pointing us to the truth about God, grief, and the power of love and grace to change lives for the better.
The Book Club for Troublesome Women by Marie Bostwick. Fiction, 2025
A friend retitled this book: “The Book Club for Troubled Women. Not far from the truth. However, I read the book because it revealed life as a woman in the 60s, my mother’s era as a wife, mother, and working woman. The story of four women ramps up when one reads Betty Friedan’s The Feminine Mystique and organizes a book club to discuss it. What evolves is less about books and more about sharing their lives through heartache, lost dreams, infidelity, and male chauvinism. While not a book for everyone, I’m glad I have a different picture of the era my mother lived through more successfully than these women.
A Consuming Fire by Debbie Goodwin, Lent Devotions, 2026
I took the slow and thoughtful journey through Lent that my newest book provides. This time, I wasn’t looking for sentence structure, grammar, or effective wording. I read it for the spiritual lessons God wanted to use in my life. And they came. They were lessons about what really counts in life, what is worth giving my life for, and what attitudes truly become my thank you to God for His great gift. I’ve always believed that if what I write isn’t growing me, it isn’t worth publishing.
The Record Keeper by Charles Martin, Fiction, 2022
I had to read the third book of this 4-book series. I must remind you that this book is about human trafficking and has raw scenes, However, Martin does not focus on play-by-play depravity. This book begins with Murphy enjoying married life with his newly found and adopted daughters. However, he must return to the frey, this time at great cost. Again, the book is nail-biting, heart-wrenching, and contains so many redeeming truths! I’ve already checked out the last book!
Gelato at the Villa by Robin Jones Gunn, Fiction, 2025
This book accompanied me on my trip to Italy, Greece, and Turkey. It is another “travel” book where two friends take a trip to fulfill a dream and deepen their friendship. Each woman is wrestling with different issues and the new environment and a need to depend on each other give them time to talk. Not only does it deepen their relationship but brings to the surface unsettling life issues. I appreciate Robin Gunn’s use of dialogue to reveal life lessons and spiritual truth without sounding pious or preachy. It made for delightful reading. Plus, there’s recipe I want to try!
Platform by Michael Hyatt, Nonfiction, 2012
I finally finished this book, which I have been reading in spurts since it came out. While some of the information for writers and influencers is dated, there is much that is not. His information about blogging, engaging and retaining readers, and building a business model will help any professional writer. Now, I’ve got to synthesize my lessons and start incorporating what I’ve learned!
The Keeper by Charles Martin, Fiction, 2025
This last book in the Murphy Shepherd series delivered it all: good story, nail-biting scenes, amazing love, and a twist at the end I didn’t expect. Murphy has lost his mentor, friend, and partner in his fight to free captives from sex trafficking. He’s on his first solo mission and it’s for longtime friend, Aaron Ashley, the US Vice president. His three daughters have been kidnapped and Murphy leads a desperate and dangerous mission to rescue them. He is willing to die by the mission he learned from his mentor, “Bones:” The needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many” What happens weaves a story of love, rescue, surprise, and redemption.
An Incremental Life by Luci Shaw, Poetry, 2025
I have followed Luci Shaw’s writing since I met her at a Wheaton College Writers’ Conference in the 1970’s. Her exceptional use of words to describe a moment or truth transports me. Unfortunately, she died in 2025, so this is her last work, and it couldn’t be a better expression of living life in small pieces. Her ability to take a bird sighting, a cloud, a walk, an emotion, and carefully dissect its incremental parts always stirs my heart and imagination. So I will be re-reading all the collections I can from the beautiful heart and soul of this exquisite word-weaver.
Beneath a Scarlett Sky by Mark Sullivan, Historical Fiction, 2017
Based on a true story and carefully researched using interviews with the main character, this story takes you on Pino Lella’s journey in Italy to survive the war without having to fight for the Germans. He helps a priest get Jews over the Alps until he must enlist as a German soldier. His family helps him find a job as a driver for a high-ranking general so he can collect information for the resistance. What he sees and how it changes him but does not destroy him is a story of resilience, determination, and a hard way to grow up. Peno died in 2025 at the age of 99, but in this story he will always be the young man looking for love and victory over the Nazis.
The Mountains We Call Home: The Book Woman’s Legacy by Kim Michele Richardson and Katie Schorr, Historical Fiction, 2026
Cussy Lovett, one of the “blue” people of Appalachia, is sent to prison unjustly. When she becomes the prison librarian, her life changes in ways she never expected. She finds a place helping incarcerated women learn to read and meets a woman who will change her life when she is “loaned” to the Louisville library to increase literacy. Richardson consistently and provocatively writes in an Appalachian voice that helps you get inside Cussy. Even if you haven’t read the first two books in the “Troublesome” series, you will find the story of Cussy Lovett inspiring and heartbreaking, reminding us that we should never live without hope and perseverance.
Hearing God: Developing a Conversational Relationship with God by Dallas Willard, Spiritual Formation, 2012
In Dallas Willards simple-but growth-challenging way, he unpacks what it means to develop a conversational relationship with the Creator of the Universe. He warns us about artificial practices that lead to misunderstandings. He reminds usthat hearing God is more about relationship than getting our prayers answered the way we want. Filled with amazing insights, scriptural principles, and exercises that help you practice what he shares, Dallas Willard invites you to learn to pray in a way that will grow you.
Scape by Luci Shaw, Poetry, 2013
This small book of Luci Shaw’s poetry has accompanied my morning devotions. Her ability to see a whole thing from its parts and make profound discoveries at the end always takes my breath away. The world is richer for her poetry and sadder since her death in 2025.
Brave by Mesu Andrews, Biblical Fiction, 2024
This is the story of David’s first wife, Ahinoam, who accompanied David during the tense time when Saul sought to kill David. Andrews carefully fills in the story based on very limited details from the scripture. She develops Ahinoam as a woman who holds her own in battles and is deeply protective of David. This story also covers David’s second wife, Abigail, whom David rescued after an abusive marriage. If you like biblical stories about how “it might have been,” you’ll find Mesu’s detailed stories intriguing. This is the first in her series about all of David’s wives.
Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies by J.B. West, Memoir, 1973
This was a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look at daily life in the White House with the 5 Presidential families that Head Usher, J.B. White, worked for. It chronicles the White House history of Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman, Mamie Eisenhower, Jacqueline Kennedy, and Pat Nixon. J. B. West provides an insight into the family lives, decorating choices, food preferences and political involvement without making critical observations. I appreciated J. B.’s non-judgmental approach to each, which explains how each First Lady considered him her advocate. With so many tell-all books, this tell-most book was a refreshing read.
The Stories We Tell by Patti Callahan Henry, Fiction, 2014
This book takes us on a journey of unraveling and beginning again. Eve runs a successful hand-printed stationery business. Her husband, Cooper, is editor of a southern digital magazine for men. Work has trumped the relationship for years until a car accident changes everything. Eve’s sister, Willa, was in a car accident with Cooper, leaving Willa with a post-traumatic brain injury and Cooper with a facial wound that would need plastic surgery. When Eve suspects that there was more to the accident and begins her own sleuthing, what she uncovers will remind her that truth may be hidden, but never changed.
What is Left of the Night by Mark Buchanan, Historical Fiction, 2026
Based on a true WWII story, this book struggles with how to reconcile pacifism and the Christian responsibility in war. The story involves what happened in Le Chambon-sur-Lignon, France. Young Hannah escaped the Nazis who killed her family and arrived in the village near the time when a peace-loving priest and his more activist wife arrive in the middle of the Nazi initiative to rid the country of “undesirables.” How the village comes together to oppose the formidable darkness of the Nazis is a story of faith and courage. Beautifully written, even lyrical at times, this story has beauty and depth despite its dark subject.