Books I Read In January

My reading in January was pretty eclectic - starting the new year off right! I averaged a book a week while juggling all the post-holiday busyness that I'm sure you experienced, too. After putting books on the back burner for much of last year, unfortunately, I feel like my heart is in the right place again.

Here's what I read and what I loved:

Breath as Prayer by Jennifer Tucker. The first book I chose for my Breathe study this year was amazing. Jennifer Tucker guides the reader through breathing Scripture, teaching how balancing the two nervous systems through breathwork, making God's word the focus instead of anxiety, calms and restores peace. After an amazing introduction to breathing, the lungs, and anxiety, there are 84 devotions with prayers and breathwork to study through. Love, love, love.

The Watchmaker's Daughter by Larry Loftis. I knew the story of Corrie ten Boom and she and her family in Holland hid Jews and Resistance workers during WWII, eventually being captured and sent to concentration camps. But Danny gave me this book for Christmas to expand my horizons and to remind me that my problems may seem overwhelming sometimes, but people who have been through much worse have survived, then thrived. Her story shattered me, and that's exactly what I needed.

The Search for Amelia Earhart by Fred Goerner. The history channels on television often have episodes devoted to Earhart, but they always end with "we don't know anything more." I wanted to see if someone (Goerner) who followed the evidence and went to find Earhart and her navigator personally would have any more answers to her disappearance. I was fascinated by his research, interviews, travels, and investigations, and was shocked at what he discovered. I'm not giving anything away because this is one book you'll want to check out for yourself.

Founding Mothers by Cokie Roberts. After reading about a dozen books on the Revolutionary War last year, I was ready to look at that time period from a different angle. This book was the perfect choice because it combines our First Ladies, their friends, their coworkers in revolution, their letters, their husbands, and their bravery into a front-line battle story of their own. It was spellbinding.

Stone Maidens by Lloyd Devereux Richards. I don't read thrillers - I never have - but I do watch true crime on television. Something about being married to the undertaker, I suppose. When I saw this author's Instagram account, I was instantly curious, so I ordered his first book. There is no sex and no profanity, which I very much appreciated, just a plot that keeps you guessing and creative twists that throw you off when you think you've figured it out. It's definitely a detailed murder mystery in the most gruesome sense, but for my first thriller, I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now, three days in to February, I'm well into my next three books, and I already can't wait to share them with you!

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