The Sweetest Thing

I really enjoyed The Sweetest Thing by Elizabeth Musser, and highly recommend it. Set in 1930s Atlanta, this novel explores faith and friendship during the Great Depression. It’s the story of the unlikely friendship that forms between Anne “Perri” Singleton and Mary “Dobbs” Dillard. Perri comes from a wealthy family and is used to a life of comfort and privilege. The individualistic Dobbs is the daughter of an itinerant minister…very much Perri’s opposite.

The story begins with a tragedy in Perri’s life. Shortly thereafter Dobb’s arrives in Atlanta to stay with her aunt, and becomes a close friend and confidant of Perri. Unknown to Perri, Dobbs is no stranger to tragedy, which helps her relate to and understand Perri in ways her other friends cannot. Family secrets, jealousy and their very different backgrounds threaten their bond … but in the end each girl comes of age a stronger and more confident person.

I was initially drawn to this book because it takes place in Atlanta. I don’t live far from where the fictional Perri and Dobbs lived, so I recognized many of the neighborhoods, streets and landmarks mentioned in the book. It really made the book come alive for me in vivid detail.

Shortly after finishing The Sweetest Thing, I found out that the author was doing a book signing in Atlanta. I really loved this book, and was thrilled about the opportunity to meet the author. It was my first book signing and I thoroughly enjoyed the presentation and learning more about Elizabeth Musser.

One thing I found particularly interesting was her thoughts on faith, both in general and in the context of the book. Though faith is a part of the novel, it is not as overt as I thought it might be. She expanded upon the theme of faith in her presentation, which I found thought provoking. I’d like read the novel again after hearing her speak, as I think I may glean things I missed the first time around.

Additionally, Elizabeth Musser grew up in Atlanta, and her grandmother was the inspiration for Perri’s “thousand dates” in the novel. It was fun to hear about her grandmother, and seeing the display featuring her diary and Washington Seminary yearbooks was a true highlight!

I got permission from the author to take a few pictures of the display table ... check out the pictures below (click on them to make them larger):

Elizabeth Musser signing books

The display table with family history objects related to the book

Her grandmother's diary

The history of Washington Seminary, now part of the Westminster Schools

Money Saving Secrets of the Amish

Author Lorilee Craker is familiar with the Amish community, having been born Mennonite. Her idea for the book “Money Saving Secrets of the Amish” came about when, like many Americans, her family began to feel the effects of the financial fallout in 2008. She learned that not only have the Amish emerged relatively unscathed by the financial fallout, in many cases they have actually thrived. Her curiosity piqued, she set out to discover how the Amish are so adept at successfully living within their means … even when providing for a typically large Amish family.

I was curious about this book – mostly about whether it would contain practical, applicable advice or whether it would suggest that readers start canning fruit and line drying their laundry. I was quite relieved that it was the former.

The author has an engaging writing style, and injects quite a bit of good-natured Amish humor into the book. She offers both “Plain” and “Fancy” examples to illustrate the principles she discusses, which were interesting and at times insightful.

I particularly liked the part about delayed gratification and the Marshmallow Study, as well as the ensuing examples that illustrated that the rewards can be twice as sweet, if you will, when you don’t spend impulsively.

The biggest question with all financial books is: how useful/helpful/relevant is the information in the book? With this book, I would say that it depends on where a person is on their financial journey.

I grew up with sound money principles that I have now applied to my own life. As a result, most of the content in this book was not new information to me.

For someone who is new to personal finance or who has fallen into debt, I think this book would be a helpful starting point. The book is not a roadmap out of debt, but the principles it offers are tried-and-true and, if applied, could easily help someone start down the road to financial independence.

Overall, I found the book to be quick and engaging read, as well as a nice reminder of basic financial principles. 

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

Max on Life

Max Lucado is a popular Christian author and speaker. In his latest book, Max on Life, he tackles many of the questions he has been asked over the years. The book is a large – and insightful – FAQ resource.  The questions are grouped by categories, and I really liked the topical index in the back of the book that made it easy to find questions related to certain topics.

Max answers each question with a brief, easy-to-read essay. His overall tone is gentle counsel and hopefulness, and his responses are conversational and encouraging.

I was interested in reviewing this book, as I am familiar with Max Lucado, but had not read any of this previous works. This book was a great introduction to his ministry.

I also liked that most of his responses were applicable to Christians in general, rather than a specific faith tradition. This book was not at all “preachy” and there was no finger-pointing. In fact, I’d say that his responses would be applicable to almost anyone – it’s a great guide to living a good life.

I enjoyed reading through the book, in no particular order, to learn what he had to say about the many different topics. Due to the breadth of material in the book, he was not able to give a “deep dive” on the questions. Often that was adequate, but there were some questions where I would have liked to have been able to read more about what he thought on a particular issue.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace

In Front of God and Everybody: Confessions of April Grace by K.D. McCrite details highlights from 11-year old April Grace’s summer vacation, told from the often-hilarious perspective of April Grace herself.

April Grace seems older than her 11 years in her thoughts and observations. The book is geared toward Tweens, but as an adult, I have to say that I thoroughly enjoyed reading April Grace’s musings and antics!

I did feel that at times the author tried a little bit too hard to make April Grace funny, but there were also quite a few parts where I laughed out loud. April Grace says (or thinks) what everyone else is thinking, but is too polite to say!

The story line was quite enjoyable. April Grace deals with snooty new neighbors, an older sister who things she is Queen Bee and her beloved Grandma trying to impress the new man in her life.

The new neighbors are as rude as can be, yet April Grace’s parents do the Christian thing (for entirely too long in my opinion) and take them in. I thought the author did a good job of slowly allowing those two characters to grow and develop. And, of course, it took April Grace telling it like it is for part of that to happen.

April Grace’s sister worships the new neighbors, and takes emulating Isabel St. James a little too far. I did like the irony that her sister wants to be seen as fashionable, proper and elegant … while being saddled with the decidedly country name of Myra Sue.

April Grace can’t wrap her head around her grandma dating, wearing makeup or … gasp … kissing her boyfriend, which makes for a very amusing subplot of the story. Not to mention, this man is extremely loud, extremely obnoxious and seems to be hiding something – which April Grace picks up on, but no one believes her. I really liked the mystery woven into the latter half of the story.

All in all, an enjoyable book I would recommend to others!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com <http://BookSneeze®.com> book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.