book review – Page 2 – Laurel Luehmann

Book Reviews, Journaling, Personal, reading

February memories – 2025

March 3, 2025by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Four short and everlasting weeks later…

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.
c.s. lewis

Things worth remembering…

fake snake shenanigans
having an all-sisters outing to a favorite coffee shop
finding that the instant camera I dug out of a thrift store actually works (!!!)
skating past bloody ice 👀
getting a dear friend‘s poetry book in the mail
getting to use a new skid loader for work
being pleasantly surprised by a successful attempt at adapting a cheesecake recipe
finding out that Amazon had significantly marked down Clarion Hope (!!!)
writing strange typewriter haikus about my siblings
surviving The Coldest Day
finding that the combination of gravy, pasta shells, and mozzarella cheese tastes way better than it looks
a weekend near Duluth with friends…so very good for the soul🫶🏼
creating the Play-Doh Red Sea crossing
seeing Lake Superior for the first time
all of the memories made on the road…and on the side of the road…and in the ditch…
the world smelling like spring again
picking up crocheting again
time in the woods

We are full and we forget God: satisfied with earth, we are content to do without heaven.
Charles Spurgeon

What I’ve been reading…

Three Men in a Boat – Jerome K. Jerome

To be honest, I didn’t read much this month. But I did start reading this book, and the humor is so much fun!

In the Shadow of a Sunbeam – Rachel Rowbottom

I have mixed feelings about this book. I did break them down a bit in my Goodreads review, though, so you can check that out if you’d like.

What We Hide – Colleen Coble, Rick Acker

THE EPILOGUE, PEOPLES!!!

I enjoyed the mystery aspect of this story, but I was really disappointed with how the issue of divorce was handled so flippantly by a Christian couple. The “do I love him, do I not, should I divorce him, should I not,” was littered with Scripture references, and that really saddened me. I know that approach isn’t unrealistic in the least, but I would have appreciated a wiser character being able to bring some clarity to the situation and to the reader. Please and thank you.

(I did get invested in Hez’s story, though, and the epilogue got me, so I may give the sequel a listen when it comes out…)

He satisfies the longing soul,
And fills the hungry soul with goodness.
psalm 107:9

From the journal…

The Fall came because Eve was not satisfied with the abundance God had allowed her. Oh, Jesus, let me not fall into the same trap of believing that my ways are better!

It is a gift to suffer and long deeply on this earth, for in doing so we are given a clearer picture of the brokenness of this world and our sinful nature, and our desire for our Redeemer and Savior is strengthened in a way that those who know little trial can only dream of. Thank You for this opportunity, Lord, to know just how deep Your love for me runs.

Let me expect my daily sustenance from You and You alone so that I may be able to love deeply and truly with no conditions.

What’s the best that could happen?
Many people, I’m sure, but one of my dearest friends in Particular 🙂

Ah, February…the month in which joy and struggle love to coexist.:) What thoughts/memories are you taking away from this past month?

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

Book Reviews, Journaling, Personal, reading

January memories – 2025

February 3, 2025by Laurel Luehmann3 Comments

Hello, friends! It’s the first post of the year!!!

I know it’s been a bit quieter on the blog these days, but it’s been with intention! While life off the page was very exciting this month, I’ve been intentionally shifting away from the blog to focus on building a consistent and meaningful newsletter. You can sign up for that here if you’d like to keep reading new things that aren’t just monthly updates! XD

Anyway. Let’s get to the fun stuff.

How much larger your life would be if your self could become smaller in it.
G.K. Chesterton

Things worth remembering…

New Year’s Day tractor adventures
God giving back the opportunity to lead worship regularly
a friend’s poetry speaking directly to my heart
enjoying my first latte with actual latte art!
attempting to be a responsible plant mother
my first time being an Urgent Care escort
HIKING!!!
glorious sunrises
a cutthroat game of Monopoly (I did not win)
a video chat with a dear friend
surviving the brutal cold snap
discovering Pride and Prejudice read in a southern accent
lots of quality time with my grandma
flying through the hay field in my car
encouragement from friends
ice skating for the first (official) time
fake snake adventures

I want to be free of self-pity. It is a tool of Satan to rot away a life. I am sure that this is the perfect will of God.
Barbara Youderian

What I’ve been reading…

Out to Canaan – Jan Karon

The fourth book in The Mitford Years…another gem. These books are just so good for the days when I need a cozy read that is heartwarming and entertaining…and not too hard to follow!

Into Thin Air – Jon Krakauer

I’ve decided to stop being such a reading purist and start claiming audiobooks I’ve listened through as “read” in these recaps. XD This one, however, I would probably have absorbed better if I’d actually read it. It was a fascinating story! Krakauer is a gifted writer, and I appreciated his vulnerability and humility in sharing about such a difficult experience. However, I don’t recommend it for younger readers because of consistent language throughout (ugh) and a bit of content.

What Is a Healthy Church? – Mark Dever

Man, this has been such a good and convicting read.

A Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens

Home, sweet home…I love Dickens’ work, and this is my favorite of his. So far! Rereading it this month has been a blast…I’m catching all the foreshadowing and appreciating it for the first time as someone who’s already familiar with the entire story. In a way, it’s better the second time around!

In the Shadow of a Sunbeam – Rachel Rowbottom

I was blessed with an ARC of this book! It comes out in February, and I’ll be sharing my review when it releases. Meanwhile you can follow Rachel’s literary adventures through her Linktree!

What We Hide – Colleen Coble, Rick Acker

I ran out of audiobook hours in the middle of this one! To be honest I’m really frustrated by one of the main characters, but I’m intrigued by the mystery and have to know what’s going on. So back to this one I go! (When Spotify renews my audiobook hours. XD)

If Your presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here.
Exodus 33:15

From the journal…

Again God will be the same merciful God I have known and loved, and at the end of this year He will still be worthy of my soul, my life, my all.

I trust You, Father, even with my blunders.

Oh, the power of the Resurrection!! Among so many other things, it gives us the power to live self-controlled, to happily trust broken lives to the God Who makes all things new.

oh, wondering soul, time is a measurement of hope
as for a wedding day.
Hosanna Emily

How was your January, friends?

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

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December memories – 2024

January 6, 2025by Laurel Luehmann2 Comments

Goodness sakes…the last blog post of the year!

To hope is to wait with your heart intertwined, knotted up, tied to God Himself.
To be a people of hope is to let go of hoping in all the things of this world, and have all your hope, all your heart, all your aching, waiting expectations, bound to Jesus.
Ann Voskamp

Things worth remembering…

Building a book tree with a sister
Studying Malachi
Seeing Sidewalk Prophets in concert at last!!
The drive home with sad songs and 40 ounces of Nighty Night Extra
Chik-fil-a, Barnes & Noble, and the guitar shop
Christmas lights!!
Finishing my short story and getting it out to my newsletter gang
Honest, tearful conversations
My sisters’ Christmas program
Hot cocoa and gift wrapping
Savoring the white Christmas while it lasted
Singing in five-part harmony around the bonfire
Walks on soggy gravel roads when the snow melted
Jigging with the youngest sisters
A misty moisty morning
Several outrageous rounds of Who What When Where Why

That was hope. Not a violent jolt or reawakening,
But the constancy of living as though each moment was worth it,
Rising up under pain because by the power of the living God it will not end us –
It will not end us; it will not end here.
Hannah Hodgson

What I’ve been reading…

The Boys in the Boat – Daniel James Brown

It’s taking me awhile to finish this one, but it’s brilliantly written! I’m just easing into non-fiction again. XD

The Greatest Gift – Ann Voskamp

I didn’t end up reading this one all the way through like I did last year, as I was reading another Advent book (see below).

Advent: a collection – Hannah Hodgson

If only Hannah’s books were available for purchase all the time…her poetry blesses me so much and I want to share it with the world. If you want to catch a glimpse of her poetry, though, go follow her on Instagram!

A Christmas Carol – Charles Dickens

Oh, goodness, this book brought me so much joy!

A Thousand Mornings – Mary Oliver

I so wish Mary Oliver had had a better grasp of theology, because if that had been the case this collection would be absolutely flawless. The beauty of her thoughts and way of expressing them is so natural. I adore her poetic style.

A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes…and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.
dietrich bonhoeffer

From the journal…

Oh, Father, help me to catch a vision for something greater than my own life story!

You’re never late, I know.

You have never skimped a single one of your children, Father, and I pray that I would know that deeply, even if Your richness and generosity meet me in this same position of life next year.

Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight.
Luke 10:21

What are you tucking into your book of memories from this December?

Stay the course!

Laurel

P.S. My short story, Grace Werner’s Perfectly Imperfect Christmas, is available to you for FREE when you sign up for my weekly newsletter! You can do that here. ❤

This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you purchase something through one of the links I share in this post, I receive a small commission…at no extra cost to you.:)

reading, Short Stories, writing updates

I’m releasing a short story!

December 12, 2024December 12, 2024by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

Hello, friends!

I’ve been quieter on the blog lately because I’ve been working to pour more into my (mostly)weekly newsletter. I’m so grateful for my newsletter gang, and this Christmas that group gets a special gift: a short story with all of the cozy, nostalgic Christmas-y feels.

All Grace wants is to make Christmas 2001 absolutely perfect for her family. Is that too much for a seven-year-old to ask? But she can’t wrap gifts as well as her mother, or decorate cookies that look as nice as Grandma’s, and to top it all off the sky won’t yield even a single snowflake! Her dreams for a perfect Christmas seem to be crumbling as fast as her sugar cookies, but could it be that there’s more to a perfect Christmas than perfection?

This Christmas, join Grace and her family in their blustery corner of the Midwest for a chuckle-inducing adventure that will warm your heart and possibly leave you craving a plate of sugar cookies.

I didn’t think one could get so excited about such a simple story, but here I am, proving myself wrong. XD I adore these characters (borrowed from the novel I’m prepping from publication), and seeing them in a Christmas setting and through the eyes of a seven-year-old has been such a delight. I don’t think you want to miss it.:)

You can also add it on Goodreads here.

I hope you’re having a wonderful December! ❤

-Laurel

Book Reviews, Personal

March memories – 2023

April 10, 2023April 10, 2023by Laurel LuehmannLeave a Comment

How does March already feel so far away??

Things worth remembering

spending time with a cousin
tacos and fun conversation with friends
eating “maple foam”
our first small group meetings!
making significant progress in Project Redemption
getting an internship I really wanted
The Arm-Wrestling Night (if you know, you know)
getting a box of Clarion Hope copies
late night sibling talks
getting posts prepped for the Clarion Hope release

Jesus is our Ruler.
It is His trail.
Kimu (transcribed from a prayer by Elisabeth Elliot)

What I’ve been reading

Chasing the White Lion – James R. Hannibal

This is the sequel to The Gryphon Heist, and I really enjoyed it! It did get a little bloodier than I like, but I really loved how the author dug into one character’s backstory…and the banter and suspense from the first book didn’t disappoint in the second!

By My Own Betrayal – Cydnie Trenholm

Okay, I loved this one so much!! The sibling relationships, the disguises, the plot twists, the dangling end that leaves you hungry for the sequel…it was just amazing. Put it on your TBR.

The Butterfly and the Violin – Kristy Cambron

I picked this up without realizing it was a romance (if you’ve been around the blog for a bit, you probably know how I feel about those XD), but it pleasantly surprised me! The storylines were gripping, and the descriptions of the death camp were heart-breaking and thought-provoking. I learned quite a bit from this book.

The goal is not to have unrestrained disclosure in every relationship, but to know at any level of communication that we are not holding back our voice out of fear.
Rosalie De Rosset

From the journal…

God, thank You for the pain… Thank You for Your gracious “no”s and “not yet”s… Oh, You know best then, God, and You know best now.

Lord, I pray for unity in Your Church… Show us the art of dying on the hills You’ve told us to die on, and the art of being quiet when the hills aren’t big enough.

David refused to offer to the Lord that which would cost him nothing. Help me to have this heart, Father! May I never look for the easy way out…may I pay full price.

God, who am I to tell You how to write my story?

How was your March? Anything remarkable that you learned/read/did?

Stay the course!

❤ Laurel

Book Reviews, reading

This Life of Mine – book review

March 27, 2023by Laurel Luehmann4 Comments

Friends, meet one of my favorite books and the first one I’ve had the privilege of endorsing!

This Life of Mine has earned a forever home on my bookshelf and in my heart. Featuring memorable characters and a powerful stance on the sanctity of life, it had me in tears with its story of redemption in the wake of regret. Victoria Lynn has done it again, weaving a tale that holds out hope to the ones who have been broken…and to the ones who have broken others.
Laurel Luehmann

First off, let me introduce you to the book via the blurb…

Marcus is tired of losing those he loves. The last shred of his childhood has been uprooted, and he feels alone… again. When the ruler’s new policies take effect, the anger of the Rusalkan mountain king is unleashed upon the borderlands. With refugees streaming into Elira by the hundreds, the stories from the wall are horrific.

Marcus joins a convoy to lend his medical skills to those in need at the Eliran border. What he finds there requires him to face his own deformities. Will he be able to overcome them? Or will his life forever be marked by suffering and sacrifice?Dilara’s life as a slave in Rusalka was anything but idealistic. Consumed by a system designed to use, abuse, and discard the likes of her, she has been taken through the very depths. Carrying a traumatic secret and wounded in her frenzied escape, she finds herself with an unlikely protector and an even more confusing relationship. Can she traverse the waters of this new life of hers and make it her own?

“Curses often have a way of turning out to be blessings in disguise. It’s a wise man who will see the first and recognize it as the other.”
This Life Of Mine – The Chronicles of Elira

What I loved about This Life of Mine

The characters.

Even the side characters in this book had so much personality! Everyone was so endearing and just came alive so effortlessly in my mind. (I’ve got to admit that Keitha was probably my favorite side character.:) )

I loved how you got to see the main character’s flaws, too. The characters weren’t unrealistically perfect…they were believable and relatable.

Marcus’ prayers/conversations with God.

Every now and then, there comes a fictional character who challenges you to live your life differently, and Marcus’ effortless open dialogue with the Lord did just that for me.

The recurring imagery and parallels.

Man, oh man. This was so much fun. It was the ashes one that got me.

The reveal.

I can’t say much about this because of spoilers, but WOW. This was one plot twist I never saw coming, and the absolute beauty…

“Pain shared brings healing instead of making the wound grow deeper with each remembrance.”
this life of mine – The chronicles of elira

Intrigued? Purchase a copy from Amazon here or a signed copy here!

This Life of Mine is the second book in Victoria Lynn’s series, The Chronicles of Elira, but this book can also be read as a standalone! If you’re interested in hearing more about the first book in the series, check out my review of Once I Knew here.

Meet the author

Victoria Lynn has an insatiable desire for truth, light and beauty.

Traveling to destinations of beauty created by our Heavenly Father, reveling in creative pursuits that fill her with joy, or pouring her heart into words of life are some of her favorite things to do.

She seeks to bring the life giving words of the Savior to a dark and broken world that desperately needs to know of His sacrifice.

A writing and publishing coach, author, journalist, seamstress and creator, she loves spending time with any of her 8 siblings, exploring her native state of Michigan, and sewing gowns fit for a princess.

Victoria’s content just blesses me so much…be sure to check out her blog and Instagram account!