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“That’s the question you need to answer for yourself. Are you willing to break every rule?”


Brian Freeman is usually an auto-read for me. There have been a few here and there that have not been my favorite but I usually really enjoy his books.

Break Every Rule is a stand alone thriller about human trafficking and the lengths one husband and father would go to get his wife and daughter back. It immediately added a new item to my bucket list: never visit Miami.

This wasn’t one of my favorites by Freeman, and I would say that is largely due to the nature of the plot. Human trafficking just makes me sick and angry. At least the book doesn’t glorify it and we do see some form of justice which is good, but it’s just one of those books you don’t necessarily ‘enjoy.’

This book also had a lot more swearing than some of this other books so I wasn’t keen on that.

In some ways it reminded me of Freeman’s book Immoral which very appropriately named. This one felt better to read than that one. The immorality felt more clearly defined in Break Every Rule and the good guys and bad guys more differentiated.



Plot Basics

The main character of Break Every Rule is Tommy Miller— an ex-soldier/ex-cop jaded by a system that can’t get to the worst of the worst because of corruption or money or the murder of witnesses. They are “untouchable.”

He gets roped into a group that manipulated that anger to use him to do secret ops. To do what the system couldn’t do— bring justice and get the bad guys: The Outsiders.

Until a mission with The Outsiders went awry and Tommy (previously known as The Tiger) had to go into hiding.

His wife, Teresa, has secrets of her own. When she and their (baby) daughter get kidnapped, Tommy starts to realize that the people after her are not the same ones that are after him. But trying to rescue his wife will alert his own enemies to his location and complicate his plans.

Not only is he evading his enemies, but the detective working his wife’s disappearance, Lindy Jax, has made this case personal and is going out of her way to figure out what Tommy is up to and who he really is.

But if there is one thing Tommy knows, it’s that to get his wife and daughter back, he’s going to have to break some rules.

“We can’t change the law, so we break it when the law stands in the way.”



My Soap Box

Break Every Rule is ‘Taken’ meets Epstein’s horrific private island. Down to the very same principle of being ‘untouchable.’

That’s what makes this book hard to read. It’s not fiction. It’s happening today in the Caribbean and all over the world. And anyone who turns a blind eye to it is despicable.

“She was consumed with outrage that no one would help us. That the rich and famous would gather around Fell and not let the truth come out.”

That is what I feel. Outrage. Because there is no doubt in my mind that the rich and famous and influential are blocking the truth from coming out in our real world about so much injustice. To protect their own cash flow or their own reputations. It’s sick.

If only Tommy Miller was a real person who could infiltrate, expose, and bring justice. That’s the thing about this book and Taken. Yeah, these men have special skills that help them get their loved ones back, but that’s not normal. That’s not reality. The reality is most of these girls and women either don’t have anyone looking for them or anyone with the resources and capabilities to rescue them.


This is a soap box I’ll stand on all day: the pornography industry and the legitimizing of ‘sex work’ are both intimately connected to sexual abuse and increase and support the market for human trafficking. There is no doubt.

It’s shocking to me that people think ‘sexual freedom’ has no consequences. Either they are blind to the horrors of the very real trajectory of that line of thought or they are aware and they simply don’t care.

I hope that if you read this book and Martin Fell and his ‘use’ of women angers you, that you will think about the parallels to the real world and consider helping dry up the market on sex for sale. Check out Fight the New Drug and its facts and resources surrounding this topic and more information on what you can do to educate others and support a good cause.

One of the characters that’s part of Martin Fell’s ‘enterprise’ admits, “We’ve built our lives around stealing the innocence of little girls.”

Help protect innocence.



Other Comments

I thought it was weird that Tommy so quickly and easily started referring to Teresa as Alina after finding that out. Maybe Freeman did that for clarity for the reader but it seemed unnatural.

I like to make connections to other books I’ve read and there are two to be found here:

- Teresa and Tommy talk about classical music a bit which reminded me of the book Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story in Music Lessons and I think they would have both appreciated that book.

- This book reminded me of The Spy Coast which details an ex-CIA agent pulled out of her quiet, hidden retired life when another agent disappears. They too have a local detective on their heels investigating them while they’re ‘breaking the rules’ to find those hunting them down. But at least Brian Freeman made his detective more legitimate and not the foolish, bumbling variety that Gerritsen did. Plus Freeman did what I was hoping Gerritsen would have: force the main character to work WITH the detective. Although that book is the first in the series so that will probably come eventually.

- A couple nonfiction books that relate: Taking Down Backpage or The Porn Problem

Speaking of the detective, Lindy Jax: “She was a Black woman recruited to the department right out of college, and the white men— hell, even some of the Black men— made it clear that they considered her nothing but a diversity hire. So she’d had to out-hustle all of them, and they didn’t like that.”

The interesting argument here isn’t even that DEI hires are unqualified people— Lindy was qualified and that would be a whole different conversation— but just the idea of that is making it hard for diverse people to feel belonging in their job because people can speculate that you were hired because of your gender, race, or sexuality rather than your merit. I’m not at all convinced DEI does what it claims to do for diversity but rather muddies the waters. I don’t doubt that Lindy is up against it working in the environment she does as a black woman! And I don’t think the DEI groups helped her out much just by their mere existence.

Last comment, the characters encounter Alina’s foster parents and I appreciate that they portrayed a good foster home. I know the system is broken but I also know of a lot of good people that take really good care of foster children and love them very much. We don’t recognize that enough so I’m glad they chose to show the positive side of that in a book that exposes a lot of corruption.



Recommendation

While, this book isn’t my favorite of his, I would still recommend it in general. The subject matter of the plot could be enough to hinder readers especially if that would be a trigger, but I can at least attest that there is some form of justice in the end. I think, for me, I would need to know that before reading a book like this, so I will share that ‘spoiler’ but I won’t tell you the specifics.

If this plot doesn’t appeal, I would still try some of Brian Freeman’s other books: stand alones like Thief River Falls, I Remember You, or Infinite, or his Frost Easton series or the latter part of his Jonathan Stride series.



[Content Advisory: 86 f-words; 28 s-words; 5 b-words; mentions of rape and human trafficking]

**Received and ARC via NetGalley**

“We all, regardless of our official religious identity, have a tendency, as natural as blinking or breathing, to place ourselves at the center of our own existence. By the end of this book, my prayer is that we would be joyously cured of this ‘god delusion.’”


Thaddeus Williams’ book titled Confronting Injustice without Compromising Truth is one of my favorite books on the topic of social justice that I recommend often. I appreciated his fair and clear understanding of the topic.

This book is similar, but his conclusions are less nuanced as the idea of self-worship isn’t as multi-faceted as social justice.

Instead of asking twelve questions as he did in his other book, Don’t Follow Your Heart “analyzes, exposes, and debunks the Ten Commandments of self-worship.”

Though ‘following your heart’ has its own chapter within the book, it is a good overall summary of what self-worship means: doing whatever we want or whatever feels right. It’s the idea that we are the author of our own identity, the carrier of our own truth, and the maker of our own path, a path that takes us to our every desire and dream.

‘Follow your heart’ is Disney’s favorite catch phrase, but we hear it all over the place often in different words. Williams shares some staggering statistics:

“84% of Americans believe that the ‘highest goal of life is to enjoy it as much as possible.’ 

91% affirm that ‘the best way to find yourself is by looking within yourself.’”

As a Christian, those numbers should alarm us because we should not be affirming either of these stances if we are followers of Christ. That means some of us must be buying into the lies of what Williams argues is its own (and possibly fastest-growing) religion: self-worship.



With each commandment Williams exhorts readers to be heretics of this religion: boldly break the rules of self-worship. He employs a similar formatting as in CIWCC by including testimonials at the end of each chapter sharing their stories. Here they are called ‘heretic’ testimonials and include stories from people including Alisa Childers, Josh McDowell, J.P. Moreland, Oscar & Kelli Navaro, Jamal Bandy, Walt Heyer, Trevor Wright, and more.

Williams thesis is that the key to being your true self requires breaking these ten commandments.

“I wrote [this book] to convince you to become an atheist about yourself— a defiant, outspoken, strident atheist cured of the delusion of your own deity.” 

“Dear reader, I ask you keep an open mind to the possibility that, for all your proper unbelief, there exists a Being far worthier of awe and enjoyment than anyone you have ever imagined. There is a God to be discovered, not invented; a living Person, not a projection; a Being who defies and exceeds our expectations. Crack open the door to belief, just a sliver. You just may find someone there— Someone awesome, uncreated, and unimaginably good.”

So what are the ten commandments?



Ten Commandments of Self-Worship

1. #liveyourbestlife: Thou shalt always act in accord with your chief end— to glorify and enjoy yourself forever

He talks about our theological and scientific need to be ‘awed’ and how that makes us feel human.

“Self-worship leaves us awe less and empty because we aren’t nearly as awesome as we like to think.” 

2. #okboomer: Thou shalt never be outdated, but always on the edge of new

He talks about the serpent’s whispers to Eve in the garden to be like God. Turns out self-deification isn’t a new idea, but an age-old lie they subscribe to.

“When we bow to ourselves, when we are self- rather than Christ-centered, we are on the wrong side of the future, taking sides with a crushed serpent who is doomed to sulfur and destruction. But when we bow to the reality of Christ’s reign as King, we step into his winning kingdom, the forward flow and glorious destiny of the cosmos. By worshiping him rather than ourselves, we find ourselves on the right side of the future.”

3. #followyourheart: Thou shalt obey your emotions at all costs

Here he reminds us what our hearts are really like: dull, dithered, depraved, and delusional. Do we really want to trust those?

“The truth is that what God says is true about you is infinitely more trustworthy than whatever your fallen feelings say from one moment to the next.”

4. #betruetoyourself: Thou shalt be courageous enough to defy other people’s expectations

He challenges what being true to yourself actually means. Throughout the books he reveals those in history who espoused many of the popular ideas today and what it meant to those people. The books Critical Dilemma and Cynical Theories both expose that as well.

“We never seek to be true to ourselves in a vacuum. Our so-called true selves are shaped by cultural forces around us and what the elite say should be celebrated and what should be censored. Being true to ourselves is almost always a matter of being true to others.”

“Christianity is most fundamentally a call not to intellectually assent to a man-made worldview, but to yield relationally to a real, resurrected person.” 

5. #youdoyou: Thou shalt live your truth and let others live theirs

The dangers of this hashtag (aka: relativism) should be obvious, but for many, the rainbows and lollipops of such a (false) utopia blind them to the trajectory of this thought process.

“When confronted with those who steal men, whip women, and rob cradles, Frederick Douglass did not stoop to mealy-mouthed cliches about “equally valid patterns of life.””

“No one is quite the tolerant relativist they think they are… We’re all moral absolutists deep down if we believe that human beings should be treated with dignity and respect.”

6. #yolo: Thou shalt pursue the rush of boundary-free experience 

Out of all the chapters, I wasn’t sure if he quite nailed the explanation of the above ‘Thou shalt’ and I thought he could have talked more about boundaries, but I did like how he equated a YOLO life to a ‘flat’ and ‘horizontal’ life and emphasized the goodness of even a ‘small’ but faithful life.

“Jesus baptizes the mundane with meaning, even if we can’t always detect it.”

7. #theanswersarewithin: Thou shalt trust yourself, never letting anyone oppress you with the antiquated notion of being a ‘sinner’

He referenced some of the common cognitive distortions that Haidt and Lukianoff shared in their excellent book The Coddling of the American Mind and how not only do our cognitive distortions and confusing emotions plague us, but our own sin nature.

“When we look within for answers, we find ‘the old self’”

8. #authentic: Thou shalt invent and advertise thine own identity

Here he affirms the notion that living materialistic and fake lives is indeed something to avoid, but the weight of defining our own identity and ‘true’ self is too big a burden for any finite being to bear.

“My story is still unfolding, but I am sure of this— God’s sovereign ability to author our lives is far more interesting, meaningful, surprising, and joyful than anything we could dream up for ourselves.”

9. #livethedream: Thou shalt force the universe to bend to your desires

Many of these overlap, but he talks again here about following your dreams and the idea that everyone can create their own moral universe— as Elsa said, “No right, no wrong, no rules for me…” Is the dream really what we think it is?

“The self-identifying wolf wouldn’t last long in the wolf pack. The self-identifying eagle wouldn’t survive the leap off the skyscraper. Encouraging aspiring wolves and eagles to live their dreams does not make us loving, it makes us complicit in their destruction.”

10. #loveislove: Thou shalt celebrate all lifestyles and love lives as equally valid

A big thing discussed in this chapter is the redefinition of words, including love, and how words matter; we can’t allow people to weaponize and redefine words that speak of reality (see also the books Live Not By Lies and 1984). Included is the lies spun around ‘the war on women’ and the stats that speak the truer picture about how abortion and human trafficking— which is propped up by the legitimization of pornography and sex work and sexual ‘freedom’— harm exponentially more women, inside AND outside the womb. Look at the mental health of women who undergo abortions; look at the ‘missing women’ in Asia that total more than the entire US population of females because of gender-based abortion.

““By your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned” (Mt 12:37). We must hold fast to that noble tradition. Be a heretic against the cult of self-worship by making a daily habit of calling things by their true names.”

“In what fantasy land does loving someone require unwavering agreement and celebration of all their choices? Think of those you care about. If another person or group of people are demanding that you agree with them unquestioningly about everything, then they are not inviting you into a relationship but into a regime or cult.”



The Heretic’s Manifesto

The subtitle containing the word ‘bold’ is by no accident. This is indeed a book about being bold. That’s not a new concept for Christians. In Acts 4 we see the disciples sharing the gospel amidst persecution and asking for boldness:

“Lord, look upon their threats and grant to your servants to continue to speak your word with all boldness” (v29)

Being a ‘heretic’ to the religion of self-worship comes at a cost.

I like what Alisa Childers shared in her testimonial:

“Friends, I literally gave up on my dreams. And guess what? God had a way better plan for me… Jesus never said to follow our hearts, chase our dreams, and find ourselves. He said we must deny ourselves, pick up our crosses, and follow him. This is where true freedom, hope, and deep joy abide.”

We are called not to conform to the patterns of this world but to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. (Romans 12:1) If your beliefs don’t look that different than the culture at large, you may need to re-evaluate what god you are serving.

Jesus reminds us that if the world hates you, “remember it hated me first.” (Jn 15:18)

To follow God’s truth and design does not mean you will be well-liked and commended. It’s folly to those who reject Christ. But nonetheless we pursue living in God’s truth with courage and boldness because if we are following Christ, we have all we need; it is the path of life to the fullest.

One way Williams offers readers to take action is to sign their Heretic Manifesto to “join the redemptive revolt against self-worship for the glory of God.”

I decided to sign. It may mark me, but of all the things to be marked by, I would love to be marked making a stand for God’s truth and God’s glory.

But just signing the manifesto doesn’t change our hearts. We have to make the daily decisions that resist self-worship. With the help of the Holy Spirit, we can “sin boldly.”

The Heretic Manifesto includes the ten counterpoints to the Ten Commandments of Self Worship. It states that they seek to live lives marked by…

1. … awe for the God of the Bible.

2. … rejection of the ancient serpent’s lie to define our own reality.

3. … following God’s heart before our own hearts.

4. … rebellion against the doomed philosophies of self-worship ideologues.

5. … courage to champion the objectively beautiful, good, and true over and against the ugliness, evil, and falsehoods of the age.

6. … ascending the adventurous terrain of seeking God’s kingdom, rather than wandering the flatlands of our own subjectivity.

7. … looking to God’s Word rather than within ourselves for answers.

8. … authenticity before the fact that God is God and we are not.

9. … expressing our God-given freedoms within the God-given forms of moral reality.

10. … loving others redemptively, with an eye toward their temporal flourishing and eternal good.


If you are interested in learning more, they have a whole website dedicated to this manifesto and you can find that HERE.



Recommendation

I definitely recommend this book. It’s a pretty quick read and covers all the main ideas that culture is pushing, sometimes overtly and sometimes more subtly.

It’s an inspiring book and helps articulate what these sentiments, that often sound nice, really stand for and where their trajectory really goes.

Even though it was not new information for me, it is always encouraging to know that we do not stand alone when we stand against the lies of the Enemy.

Read this book if you’re wondering what could be wrong with the phrase ‘love is love’?

Read this book if you feel like you’re the only one saying no to ‘living their own truth.’

“Self-worship not only robs us of awe, originality, freedom, authenticity, humility, courage, and adventure; it also strips us of the joyous capacity to give and receive a love that is truly redemptive, like God’s love.”


[See also Kevin DeYoung’s version of this book called ‘Do Not Be True to Yourself.’]

“Slavery is not peace. Freedom is peace. And until we have that, it is our duty to make war.”


The first book, Golden Son did in the last two, and Morning Star decided the middle was the best place to do it!

[I’ll write this review with the assumption you’ve read the first two, so if you haven’t, this review will probably confuse you and give you spoilers.]


Morning Star is the climactic ‘final battle’ between Darrow and his Rising tide and the powers that be: the Sovereign and the Jackal. Do they have what it takes to fight against and beat a larger army with more resources and no moral code?

This was another intense read with a lot of violence— after all, it is war—but also more bravery, courage, wit, friendship, and the hope of something more.

My husband and I watch a lot of action movies and we often comment about the ‘bad guys’ that don’t seem very formidable. Or the ones that seem way too powerful to ever be beaten— which of course, they are beaten but the way they are beaten often feels contrived because they were so powerful. Pierce Brown did a fantastic job of creating evil and formidable opponents in the Sovereign and the Jackal but also writing the final showdown in a respectable way that made sense and didn’t diminish either side’s power.

(Although it was unclear whether any of the females had their hair in ponytails which is essential for realistic fight scenes.)

Because we are often kept in the dark of Darrow’s plans, we don’t always know if there IS a plan or if it will work. The tension is great and the pages turn fast.

I also appreciated the humor Brown manages to tangle into the gruesome tale; it’s a heavy book that needs a little levity. Sevro’s character plays a big role in that, but the other characters have their lines too. I had to laugh that he even squeezed in a subtle ‘bye Felicia’ in this one.


I have voiced that I don’t intend to read the rest of the series unless someone can convince me that it’s worth it, and now having finished the original trilogy, I uphold my decision. I feel good about where Brown took this saga and how this book ends. It is a little open-ended and not everything is figured out, but I worry that the rest of the books will undo that satisfactory feeling and just twist it into more turmoil and hopelessness. Which, truly, is inevitable because humanity is a constant cycle of shifting powers, morality, and utopia-quests.


Where Are We?

The previous book ends with the worst betrayal of the series: Roque. At Darrow’s triumph, Darrow is exposed as a Red, and a massacre occurs including the deaths of Lorn, the Son of Ares, and more. We were thrust into darkness. How can the Resistance prevail now?!

Morning Star opens with the dire circumstances Darrow has found himself in. Captured by Jackal, he spent 3 months being tortured for information and then 9 months held in a dark box. He is physically and emotionally drained and traumatized— hardly the Gold/Red hero that could lead an army.

“‘This is always how the story would end. Not with your screams. Not with your rage. But with your silence.’ Let him do his worst. I am the Reaper. I know how to suffer. I know the darkness. This is not how it ends.”


First things first— Darrow needs to be rescued. But he has a long road ahead of him. He is a shell of his former self and must be reminded what this has all been for. Why fight? Why try? What’s left? The people’s hope and expectations of him are crushing.

But, to no surprise, Darrow remembers. He may not have Roque, Lorn, Quinn, Mustang, or the Son of Ares by his side, but he still has Sevro and he still has a dream that needs to be realized:

“Karnus was right when he said that all we have in this life is our shout into the wind. He shouted his own name, and I learned the folly in that. But before I begin the war that will claim me one way or another, I will make my shout. And it will be for something far greater than my own name. Far greater than a roar of family pride. It is the dream I’ve carried and shepherded since I was sixteen.”

I love that message! We find true meaning when we realize there is something bigger than ourselves. Darrow doesn’t quite get to the Gospel but he is right to say that shouting our own name is folly. He is right to know that we can’t just believe in ourselves. It is an empty, foolish, and aimless existence.

“I wish [redacted] would have thought he was going to a better world. But he died believing only in Gold, and anything that believes only in itself cannot go happily into the night.”



Ragnarok: The End of the Gods

Sevro was one of my favorite characters in Golden Son, but while Darrow was captured and everyone thought him to be dead, Sevro took over his dad’s role as Son of Ares, leading the Resistance himself and becomes a bit of a stupid jerk in his new role. He was far from diplomatic. His efforts were vicious and vindictive and not overly effective. There is much to be done to correct the order of things and make their plans.

While I did enjoy Kavax and picturing him and his jovial morbidity like that of Drax in Guardians of the Galaxy, my favorite character in this story was probably Ragnar. After Darrow had given him his freedom, he was a loyal brother to Darrow. Part of their plan involves trekking to the dangerous land where Ragnar’s from to try to accumulate an Obsidian army to join them.

You can’t help but think of ‘Ragnarok’ when you think of Ragnar’s name. It is fitting, and I’m sure intentional, then because in Scandanavian mythology Ragnarok “is a series of events and catastrophes that will ultimately culminate in a final battle between the gods and the demons and giants, ending in the death of the gods. The world is then reborn.” ‘Ragnar’ meaning ‘gods,’ ‘rok’ meaning ‘end.’

The Obsidians are taught to believe that the Golds are gods. Ragnar has since learned the truth and desires to share that good news with his people— the Golds are not gods and the Obsidians are not indebted to serve them. The Golds are, in fact, far from being gods, because although they rule, they are not immortal or undefeatable.

Morning Star depicts this final battle between “gods” and non-gods, the precursor to a rebirth. It is also a sobering depiction of the instability and failure of man-made gods. Unfortunately, because the gospel doesn’t exist in this fictional realm, this cycle is sure to repeat because the created cannot be ultimate. The Creator is. The more we put our hope in the created, the more we will experience corruption, defeat, and failure.

Darrow and his followers know what they are being saved from: false gods and slavery and a meaningless existence. But they do not know what they are being saved to. They will try to create a better world, but they have no standard for what that looks like. They have hope in something better, but hope and faith are only as good as the object its put into.

Thankfully, we don’t live in Darrow’s fictional world, but we live in the real world where there is real hope. Real deliverance from the ‘gods’ of self-worship. Real deliverance from the evil one who is set on corrupting all that is good and true and spreading his lies. And we are being saved to something greater: a life of freedom from being controlled by the desires of our flesh; a life where we experience all the blessings of following Christ; and a promise to life everlasting in heaven where there will be no more pain and no more tears. And what good is that hope? As good as the One who lived, died, and rose again to prove himself God. There is none like Him.



The Morning Star Rises

This book is called Morning Star because Darrow is given this nickname by the Obsidians.

“They call me the Morning Star. That star by which griffin-riders and travelers navigate the wastes in the dark months of winter. The last star that disappears when daylight returns in the spring.”

The first and last star to appear. The star that ushers in a new beginning.

I don’t know what beliefs Pierce Brown has personally, but many points of this trilogy point to a Savior. A lot of sagas like this do. God put eternity on our hearts and we know he created us all with a longing for rescue to that place. Jesus was the first, last, and only Savior. All other saviors are shadows.

‘Morning Star’ is mentioned in 1 Peter 1: “we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

‘Morning Star’ is also the name Jesus gives to himself in Revelation 22:16: “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root of the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

It is the last ‘I AM’ statement of the entire Bible.

Andrew Wilson says it well [in this article] when he considers how Jesus called himself the Morning Star:

“The Morning Star, by contrast, is in a class of his own. Not only is he much brighter than his companions. Not only does he open and close the celestial symphony as both overture and finale. He is unlike them in his very essence, similar to us in ways we still struggle to believe, and far, far closer than we realize.”

In Darrow’s world, he is the morning star, rising in the darkness, ready to bring a new dawn, a new start, hope for a new day. The cover of the book shows the weapon symbolizing him as the Reaper. He was the hope because he came to kill the sitting Sovereign and the more evil aspiring Sovereign.

In contrast, in reality, Jesus is the morning star, rising in the darkness of our fallen earth, having already defeated death on the cross, he promises to return to usher in the New Earth.

The cover of his book wouldn’t show a scythe. It may show a cross, because instead of shedding the blood of others, he shed his own. But he also didn’t stay dead. He resurrected— not with the help of advanced technology like Darrow, but with his own divine power. He was truly God.

Jesus could not be defeated. He never feared defeat. He never had to hide his contingency plan in a horse carcass. His power is so far beyond Darrow’s saving power. His love is perfect where Darrow’s was tainted by selfishness, hatred, and vengeance. He is the Vale that Darrow aspired to enter.

His book cover might just be a bright light. Darkness cannot stand in His light.

“Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’” — John 8:12



Break the Chains

I can appreciate a saga like Red Rising and its ‘Savior trope.’ I was drawn into this long battle for freedom and rescue. A good vs evil story; though Brown did not water down the tainted good of humanity that has mixed motives and complicated feelings. The ‘good’ in Red Rising recognized its own depravity, yet understood that the true good had to be outside of himself. 

I don’t know if Pierce Brown wanted to share the gospel in his books. But I can’t read it without feeling compelled to fill in what Brown ‘left out.’ We devour these stories because it touches something inside our hearts for a reason. 

We want to be rescued from our own chains. We want freedom from ourselves. We want something more than this broken world. We want our lives to mean something. 

Brown shows us a fictitious battle and a fictitious victory (sorry if that’s a spoiler). 

The Bible shows us a real battle and a real victory. A victory that is yours if you receive it.

 

Break the chains in your own life. The Vale is real for those who trust in the Lord as their Savior— a true God who is worthy of our praise, worthy of our trust, worthy of our love.

Be sure: there is a war right now for your heart. Everyone serves something or someone. Who will you serve?

Break the chains.



The End of an Era?

“I can be a builder, not just a destroyer… When [redacted] is old enough I will tell him of the rage of Ares, the strength of Ragnar, the honor of Cassius, the love of Sevro, the loyalty of Victra, and the dream of Eo, the girl who inspired me to live for more.”

I feel good about where this ended. We don’t get to know the plan for the new Society but we have a hope that it will be better.

Morning Star is not the end of the series. Brown wrote 3 more and a 4th to come out in 2025. The next book after this one begins ten years from this one’s end.

My fear is that the books will ruin the ‘happy ending’ I’ve settled myself with. A good book has to have conflict and I’m not sure I can handle everything getting ruined only ten years after it started getting good.

I’m not saying I’ll never read them, but I would need someone else who HAS read them convince me that it’s worth it. I’ve also heard they are just as or more violent and gory and I think three books of that is enough for me. The trilogy I got with these three books was good and I’m happy with what I’ve gotten, I don’t feel the need for more.



Recommendation

This has been an intense and complex series to read and again, if you can handle the violence, I would definitely recommend.

I usually would not recommend a book with the violence and swearing these books have had, however, I think in sci-fi saga like this, some of that hits different and because you are so immersed in the world, it’s not as jarring. I’m not sure how to explain it. I just know that it didn’t feel the same as if I were to read a thriller with the same amount of content.

What also overshadowed that was just the compelling story that Pierce Brown has woven across the three books. The character development was clear for so many characters. The struggle between good and evil and what means justify the end. The concepts that can be pulled from this story are intricate and relatable.

I’ve written a lot in my reviews about how the themes remind me of Christ and his sacrifice for us and the Gospel message. Reading these books actually do point me back to God because it reminds me of the depravity of mankind and the dangers of man-made gods. It reminds me that I have a Deliverer and a Rescuer. It reminds me that there is a better world than this and I can have confident hope that I will experience it. Darrow’s heart struggles written in this book are not new. They are conflicts we all face; things we all have to address in our own lives: the chains of sin and darkness that bind us all.

The Red Rising series can be a launching point for readers to explore the Creator of our world and the implications of a Savior who lived on the earth a couple thousand years ago. It can be the revelation that our ‘shout into the wind’ of our own names and our own kingdoms is empty and folly.

Pierce Brown doesn’t sugarcoat the darkness and tries to bring light into it. Hopefully you can read this series and look for yourself for that light in our world— not the gleam of light off a shiny scythe but the heavenly light of life and love in Christ.


“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness shall cover the earth, and thick darkness the peoples; but the Lord will arise upon you, and his glory will be seen upon you. And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.” — Isaiah 60:1-3




[Content Advisory: 7 f-words, 106 s-words, 16 b-words (there are more swear words than the other books, and not that this excuses them, but a lot of them are in groups of five in an over 500 page book so they don’t seem super overbearing throughout and somehow the overall story makes them feel less prominent), the British use of the word ‘bloody’; violence, gore, war; cannibalism; reference to rape and children death]

“If you forced me to sum it up, I’d tell you that is the point of this book: a love for the steps, the joys of growing and outgrowing and being outgrown. And— just as in the Mozart— how time seems to stop, or even go in reverse, when you are learning.”


When I saw the clever title for this book, I was intrigued to read it.

The cleverness continues within the book in its formatting. The book begins with a prelude and ends with a coda. Paragraph breaks are marked with a ‘rest’ symbol. And the book is divided into three parts: Harmony, Melody, and Rhythm. Each chapter has a playlist of songs that accompany it.

I really liked those little details.

It was evident reading this book how much Denk really does love music. Or at least classical music.

I thought I was a person who loved and appreciated music, but the detail in which Denk describes each song and movement, it’s clear that he is on a different musical wavelength than me.

Although, because I couldn’t relate to such intricate detailed descriptions of classical music, I ended up skimming a good chunk of the last half of the book. I’m sure someone who is familiar with the pieces he is talking about or has the time to listen to all of them while reading (I tried, but some of them were like 30+ minutes long) would be able to understand what he’s talking about, but frankly it just got a little boring to me.

I was hoping for more of a memoir accented by musical analogies, illustrations, and comparisons. But to me it felt more like an annotated playlist sprinkled with some life story staccatos. He does have an annotated playlist as an appendix but I didn’t read it because that felt like double dipping.



Some of the life story segments that were in there were interesting, especially at the beginning as he takes us through the routines of a budding pianist.

I took piano lessons from 2nd grade until high school and there was a part of me that wishes I had taken it for longer and that I had made more of an effort to learn the music theory and chords and how to count better. But then I read about the grueling practice routine and the types of teachers he had and I think, what I was doing or would have ended up doing was so far below that I’m not sure what level I could have even achieved.

He likens the tedious practice to achieve the precision of each technique like this:

“Imagine that you are scrubbing the grout in your bathroom and you are told that removing every last particle of mildew will somehow enable you to deliver the Gettsyburg Address.”

One might ask— is it worth it to go through all that to become a classically performing pianist? Denk would say yes. This was, as the book flap says: “a love letter to the act of teaching.” For Denk it’s more than just performing and playing, it’s about teaching others to understand the music. While he didn’t always like it going through it, when he came out the other side he recognized different things his teachers were doing and how it helped him.



While reading this book, I did reflect on why I don’t have more of an appreciation of classical music. Especially if I play multiple instruments and enjoy music regularly.

He says,

“In general, popular culture demonizes classic music in a way that popular culture is not quite willing to take responsibility for, because most people feel this music is too full of itself, and deserves bullying.”

I think I agree that pop culture, even if we wouldn’t go so far as to say ‘demonizes’ it, does demean it just by the very absence of it anywhere. We only see it displayed at elitist functions for uppity rich people or crazy sociopaths like Silence of the Lambs. This is probably an exaggeration, but still.

There is no doubt that music moves people. Music moves me. All the time. Why am I not moved by classical music? Would I be if I listened to it more? Or do I prefer songs with lyrics? Maybe, but there are many movie scores that I really like— by composers Hans Zimmer or John Williams, or Howard Shore— that don’t contain words. But then I think it might partly be because I have a visual attached to them.

I don’t think classical music needs bullying; we could probably benefit by more of it. But I do think perhaps a ‘calm down’ is in order when it comes to the time commitment. Symphonies average 45-60 minutes. Orchestra concerts are 90 min to 2 hours. And I’m probably showing my lack of knowledge here because I honestly don’t know how that’s all arranged. A symphony is made up of movements but it’s all one “song” right? Orchestra concerts might be made up of multiple songs? I don’t know. I’m not trying to teach you here, I’m just recognizing that people are less likely to ‘get into’ classical music if it’s going to require intense hours of listening and analysis. We’re used to getting short songs on the radio every 3 minutes. Good, bad, or indifferent, it’s reality.



I have no doubt that I did not appreciate his book the way he was hoping, especially since I skimmed so much of it, but I did find these quotes interesting when he talked about harmony, melody, and rhythm.

“Harmonies wander; melodies develop or disintegrate; but only rhythms can truly be free.”

“Harmonies can turn from major to minor in an instant… they act more like water than stone. Melodies are stabler but can be narcissistic, whistling themselves over and over again. But rhythms offer something to hold on to and lean against, a refuge against both change and monotony… a structure that at once gives shelter and permits freedom. And what else is music but a space for us to live in, for awhile.”

I can’t decide if this is profound or dramatic, but there was something about it that drew me in. Maybe it’s because I play bass guitar and rhythm is my job more than harmony or melody.

It feels like the kind of quote that would be interesting to discuss with a variety of musicians. Is Denk saying that rhythm is both stable and also free but harmony and melody is either one or the other? Can rhythm really protect us from change or monotony? A definition of rhythm says “measured movement”— can something measured still be free?

This idea of structure and freedom in conjunction with one another reminds me of God’s design for his people. A lot of people look at Christianity and see rules and structure as if it hinders true freedom— you can’t just ‘do whatever you want.’ But maybe rhythm is analogous? The very structure of it offers freedom. A song without rules, a game without boundaries, is chaos and not pleasant to hear or play. But when we can operate within a structure, we have freedom to thrive.

No analogy is perfect, but those are just some of my reflections on the part of Denk’s book that I actually read decently well.



The very concept of music should be intriguing to us, whether we care about classical music specifically or not.

In Gavin Ortlund’s book, Why God Makes Sense in a World that Doesn’t, he argues for God’s existence by looking at the beauty of the world. One of the things he considers is music.

“Neuroscientists note that music affects the same part of our brains as sex and food. But unlike sex and food, it has no obvious survival function— so, from the standpoint of evolutionary psychology, why does it affect us so emotionally?”

What if music is not just a dream, an accident of biology that worked out this way, but a window— a glimpse of something beyond?

Denk exhorts his readers to “Never stop asking questions about music and its purposes” and he offers some of those purposes: “consolation, an armor against disillusionment, pure pleasure, a diversion, a refuge, and a vehicle for empathy.”

I would add: a connection to the Creator. The emotional connection we have with music is something transcendent. There is a reason it touches us the way it does. And that’s worth thinking about. The beauty of music means something.



Recommendation

I feel like this quote sums up the book well:

“The performer has two tasks: one is to do what’s written in the score— incredibly important; and the other, even more important, is to find everything that’s not.”

That’s what Denk sets out to do in this book. To look at what the score tells us but also to get at what it’s not telling us—all within the confines of his life and work. 

If you have absolutely no appreciation for music, reading this book could go one of two ways: it’s going to be a slog and you’ll quit reading pretty early on; or it will inspire you to care about music because you’ll see it in a new light. 

If you love classical music, you will probably love this book. 

If you are somewhere in the middle, you’ll find the bits and pieces that resonate with you like I did, but you may also feel like it gets a little long and overly detailed and you might find yourself skimming more and more. 

I give him props for the musical creativity, but I think if the book was a little shorter, it would be easier to recommend. 

“We are called to witness to the truth for the sake of truth itself, not because it will be met with total gladness or joy by all, but because the proclamation of the gospel is the means by which the Lord redeems those he’s called to salvation.”

“You must catechize and disciple your children at ever-younger ages intentionally, or else the culture will do so unintentionally and with greater effectiveness. If you don’t teach your children, the world will.”


I read this book in tandem with Parenting without Panic in an LGBT-Affirming World by Rachel Gilson. Apparently both Crossway Publishing and The Good Book Company had similar plans to release a short parenting guide on some of the cultural issues of the day and how to relate them at age-appropriate levels.

I decided to read them back-to-back and compare them.

In brief, I would say that I liked Parenting without Panic better, however it was written for parents with kids 11 and under— which is me— and I felt like she did a better job providing more specific illustrations and ways of communicating.

To parse it out more, the books do kind of have different targets.

Gilson’s book is targeted for younger kids and is focused on LGBT questions and thoughts on identity.

What Do I Say When addresses a broader range of topics and provides talking points for three different age groups. They don’t list out the ages, calling them ‘floors’ instead, so the parent can decide what group of points and questions would fit their child’s level of understanding. Some of the other topics in What Do I Say When include politics, human dignity, abortion, technology, and persecution, as well as chapters pertaining to transgender, sexuality, and identity categories.

Regardless of which book (or both) you decide to read, all three authors were quick to remind us that as parents, these books, though helpful, are not enough. We need to do the due diligence of familiarizing ourselves with the issues, the arguments, the defenses, and what the Bible says about them.

It’s not a question of whether our kids will learn this stuff, it’s a matter of WHO will be teaching them. Will it be us? Or will we allow their schools, their friends, or their entertainment choices tell them what is right or wrong, true or false.

It’s not enough to send our kids to Sunday school and hope they are getting enough truth to combat the lies of the enemy. As parents we are raising these kids and teaching them every day what it means to follow Jesus and obey his word and trust his design for how we live our lives.

If that overwhelms you, take heart, because that’s why these authors have written their books! These are a great starting point for any parent. Beyond that, both books provide further resources and other books that delve into each topic more deeply. Especially this one.

To read more of my thoughts on Parenting without Panic, click HERE for my full review.

Now I will focus more on What Do I Say When…? specifically.



Just as Rachel Gilson has her own qualifications for authoring her book, Andrew and Christian both do as well.

Andrew writes, teaches, and speaks on cultural issues regularly and Christian writes children curriculum and understands how to apply concepts in developmentally and age-appropriate ways.

The format for the chapters of their book is an introduction on each of the ten topics, then an explanation on what God says about it, followed by a parental guide divided into three ‘floors’ for different understanding levels (4-8; 8-12; 12-16), and concluded with a list of further reading resources.

They encourage parents to use it as a family devotional resource. To discuss a chapter around the dinner table and learn the applicable (provided) memory verse that ties it all together. But it has versatility in its function.

For the most part I liked the set-up and I definitely like the memory verse component (though I might replace a verse or two with a different one), but I’m not sure I liked the bullet-point-only reference. I understand that makes it more accessible, but with a title like ‘What Do I Say When…?’ I was hoping for a more question/answer type formatting with example questions of what kids like to ask and how you respond.

Instead they provide conversation starters— questions WE ask THEM. Most of them were answered within the teaching part of the chapter, but some of the questions I wish they would have given point-blank answers to reference.



I like their reminder from the beginning that we cannot save our children but “We should pray over our children, eagerly teach them his truth, and trust that God will be faithful to finish the good work that he has started.” (Phil. 1:6)

This is one of many resources that will help equip us to that end. We should take this responsibility seriously but not be burdened by the results. It’s easier said than done, but our children will recognize whether we are teaching them with calm, confidence, and trust or with fear, frustration, or anger.



There is definitely a good flow to this book as it starts with a chapter on human dignity that is followed by abortion. The chapter on sexuality is followed up by chapters on gender, homosexuality, identity, and transgenderism. Then we have technology and political engagement— how do we handle our beliefs and behave in public (or private) spaces.

The last chapter is on hostility and persecution, which I thought was a good chapter to have.

“There is now a social cost to being a Christian.”

Even at young ages our kids are noticing more and more that our family rules differ than other peoples’. Our friends do things we don’t. We might get teased or mocked for our beliefs or rules. Peer pressure is very real and it is good to prepare our kids and equip them for that reality. If they are not surprised by the hostility, and understand where that comes from, they will be better able to let it roll off their back than internalize it and wonder if their beliefs are the wrong ones.



The Walkers admit that they couldn’t include all the topics in the book without it becoming way too long. One topic that isn’t included that I think would be really important to ground all of these truths is to study with and teach your child about why we can believe that the Bible is true.

If we don’t know why we can trust the Word of God, we will be easily be swayed by arguments of the culture. I don’t know how many people have told me that the Bible is written by men for men and is full of sexism; that it’s written so long ago that we can’t trust how it was put together; that it’s not a true story, it’s just symbolism and a way to show people how to relate to one another.

But I have read a lot about this topic and I have yet to see an argument against the Bible that holds any weight. We don’t have to be afraid of questions, there are answers if we look for them.

And if we teach our kids all of these truths found in the Bible but don’t give them confidence to defend the Bible itself, then it will be easy for others to crumble their foundation. The Bible is true and can be trusted and our children need to know that.

A couple books for that off the top of my head: Surviving Religion 101 by Michael Kruger or Taking God at His Word by Kevin DeYoung



They provide a lot of extra reading options for each chapter and I’ve read/reviewed several of them. I’ll list the ones on my site that they mentioned for your reference as well:

Tearing Us Apart: How Abortion Harms Everything and Solves Nothing by Ryan T. Anderson and Alexandria DeSanctis (on my TBR) — Abortion

Is God Anti-Gay by Sam Allberry— Homosexuality

What Does the Bible Really Teach about Homosexuality? by Kevin DeYoung— Homosexuality

How Should We Then Live? by Francis Schaeffer (on my TBR)— Identity

The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self by Carl S. Trueman— Identity

What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel is Good News for Our Physical Selves by Sam Allberry— Transgenderism

12 Ways Your Phone Is Changing You by Tony Reinke— Technology

How the Nations Rage by Jonathan Leeman— Political Engagement

Gentle and Lowly by Dane Ortlund— Hostility and Persecution


They also provide a list of resources to help stay on pace with culture changes including Albert Mohler’s ‘The Briefing’ podcast which I’ve listened to and appreciate, and Mama Bear Apologetics which is super helpful when relating cultural things to children specifically.



Recommendation

Especially if you have kids 10 or older, I would recommend this book. I may prefer Gilson’s book for the younger kids, but she doesn’t cover all the topics the Wilsons do.

I’m still working on quelling all of my fear regarding my kids’ faith and future, but I can tell you that I have a lot less fear and a lot more confidence in parenting from reading books like this that remind me that my beliefs are grounded in the love and truth of God who created each of us on purpose with a purpose. I don’t have to wonder if I’m on the wrong side of history because I know I am on the right side of God’s truth.

You can have that confidence too. It just takes some study of God’s Word and there are plenty of teachers who have provided books like these to walk you through it.

Be encouraged and inspired to guide your kids through difficult conversations knowing you are leading them to the ultimate place of love, truth, belonging, and life.


**Received a copy via Crossway in exchange for an honest review**

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him.” (James 1:5)

“God’s vision for our bodies and relationships really is good news and we can talk calmly and confidently about it with even our young kids.”


I read this book in tandem with What Do I Say When…?. Apparently both Crossway Publishing and The Good Book Company had similar plans to release a short parenting guide on some of the cultural issues of the day and how to relate them at age-appropriate levels.

I decided to read them back-to-back and compare them.

In brief, I would say that I liked Parenting without Panic better, however it was written for parents with kids 11 and under— which is me— and I felt like she did a better job providing more specific illustrations and ways of communicating.

To parse it out more, the books do kind of have different targets.

Gilson’s book is targeted for younger kids and is focused on LGBT questions and thoughts on identity.

What Do I Say When (written by husband and wife Andrew & Christian Walker) addresses a broader range of topics and provides talking points for three different age groups. They don’t list out the ages, calling them ‘floors’ instead, so the parent can decide what group of points and questions would fit their child’s level of understanding. Some of the other topics in What Do I Say When include politics, human dignity, abortion, technology, and persecution, as well as chapters pertaining to transgender, sexuality, and identity categories.

Regardless of which book (or both) you decide to read, all three authors were quick to remind us that as parents, these books, though helpful, are not enough. We need to do the due diligence of familiarizing ourselves with the issues, the arguments, the defenses, and what the Bible says about them.

It’s not a question of whether our kids will learn this stuff, it’s a matter of WHO will be teaching them. Will it be us? Or will we allow their schools, their friends, or their entertainment choices tell them what is right or wrong, true or false.

It’s not enough to send our kids to Sunday school and hope they are getting enough truth to combat the lies of the enemy. As parents we are raising these kids and teaching them every day what it means to follow Jesus and obey his word and trust his design for how we live our lives.

If that overwhelms you, take heart, because that’s why these authors have written their books! These are a great starting point for any parent. Beyond that, both books provide further resources and other books that delve into each topic more deeply. Especially the Wilsons’ book.

To read more of my thoughts on What Do I Say When?, click HERE for my full review.

Now I will focus more on Gilson’s book specifically.



Rachel Gilson wrote her own story in her book Born Again This Way where she details her LGBT journey and experience and how she came to know the truth of the Bible and changed her lifestyle.

The same kind and loving tone is found in this book. She is careful to phrase and communicate truths in a way that reminds our children that LGBT people are not bad people. Our kids are quick to categorize good people and bad people, but that’s not how God sees us. We want to communicate God’s truth and his design without causing them to stop loving people who don’t know Jesus yet. I think that’s really important and easily lost in the conversation.


A few things she used that stood out to me:

- Just like a cow says moo and a duck says quack (animals telling us what they are), we can trust our body to tell us who we are— boys or girls. God created us in a way that we would easily know (there is some nuance here with intersex conditions that she does discuss)

- Both singleness and marriage are signposts for God’s goodness. This is a crossover from her other book where she talks about how God designed marriage between a man and a woman (difference/diversity) as a representation and picture of Christ and his bride— the church. The two parties are not interchangeable or we lose the gospel. In the same way, a man doesn’t marry a man or a woman to a woman without distorting or lying about the truth of who God is and how he unites with his people. She has always held singleness in high regard as well. In a world that makes romantic love the peak of human existence, we can remind our children that the ‘yes’ of the gospel is in being in God’s family and sharing in loving relationships as brothers and sisters in Christ. There is a place for everyone in God’s family and we are not saved by romantic love but in the love of Christ that is for all.

- She has a chapter called ‘The Sex Talk’ which may make you second guess these conversations with your kids, but the reality is that they need to know a lot of this stuff at a young age. The phrase she provides to help you explain this (in terms of eggs and seeds) is helpful and I agree with her that if we communicate confidently and calmly with our kids, it will instill their confidence and their willingness to come to us with any questions or concerns.

- She explains the effects of the fall and how we live in a broken world with broken bodies and broken feelings. It helps us explain the ‘why’ of transgender and LGBT questions as well as other sinful thoughts and behaviors we have that we need to align with God’s will and design, not on our changing feelings.

- I liked how she helps us teach our kids why our family’s rules might be different than other families. It will help us not be surprised or afraid of difference, but recognizing that people who aren’t under the kingship of God won’t obey the rules of God and won’t be using the Holy Spirit to help them say yes to his design



I was very encouraged by her chapter discussing parents’ fears about their children and what they will grow up to believe. Rachel points us to Daniel and the Israelites who were exiled in Babylon, inundated with the pagan propaganda with the threat of death if they didn’t comply with the new religion. There were many who still grew up strong in faith. There is no guarantee, but we can trust God with our children and know that “God is able to keep his people faithful, even when they are surrounded by idolatry and persecution.”

She also has a chapter that talks about when people who are Christians believe they can affirm an LGBT relationship and still be following God’s Word.

In this chapter she brings up Preston Sprinkle’s book ‘Embodied’: “At the time of writing this, I don’t know of a comparable volume engaging with affirming arguments for transgender identities, but Embodied is a thoughtful Christian treatment of the topic in general. Educating yourself on various ways in which people end up embracing revisionist positions will help as you listen to and engage with your children.”

Another reviewer brought up concerns that Rachel would recommend this book. I guess, knowing what I know of Sprinkle, I read this as her giving a ‘counter’ book option of what to be cautious of, not that his book was one to emulate. But I suppose it’s not super clear.

Rachel is right to caution readers that just because someone says they are a Christian, doesn’t mean their beliefs align with Scripture. Right now Revisionist Christianity is “popular, enticing, and deadly; if our children embrace it, our role is to call it out.” It is a distortion of Scriptural beliefs that ultimately undermines God’s Word and truth itself.

Rosaria Butterfield takes on Preston Sprinkle pretty candidly in her book Five Lies of Our Anti-Christian Age, and after doing some of my own reading and researching, I wouldn’t necessarily say avoid Preston Sprinkle at all costs, but I would be very cautious in aligning your beliefs to his. I’m not entirely sure where he stands at this very moment but I think he has decided he doesn’t believe in hell and is currently wrestling with an egalitarian view of women in the church, which Wayne Grudem does a pretty compelling job of explaining the path to liberalism from this belief alone in his book Evangelical Feminism, which is probably accelerated considering Sprinkle’s belief about hell.

The point is: be wary of Preston Sprinkle, yes, but more importantly, you need to know what truth is before you can spot the lie. Know what the Bible says about all the things. Read Rachel’s book, but read more than Rachel’s book.

She lists her own book at the end of the book as a resource as well as Is God Anti-Gay by Sam Allberry and Does the Bible Affirm Same-Sex Relationships by Rebecca McLaughlin. Both of those are also short books which I’ve read, reviewed, and recommend as well.

[I have read much on this subject, you can browse other resources on my website.]


Recommendation

I like how she concludes her book: “I hope that marinating in the principles of this book has grounded your heart in faith in our loving God… because of our relationship with the all-powerful, loving, and living true God, we can move from parenting out of fear towards parenting in secure trust in the one who will never leave us nor forsake us.”

I’m still working on quelling all of my fear regarding my kids’ faith and future, but I can tell you that I have a lot less fear and a lot more confidence in parenting from reading books like this that remind me that my beliefs regarding LGBT topics are not hateful, bigoted, or misguided. They are grounded in the love and truth of God who created each of us on purpose with a purpose. I don’t have to wonder if I’m on the wrong side of history because I know I am on the right side of God’s truth.

You can have that confidence too. It just takes some study of God’s Word and there are plenty of teachers who have provided books like these to walk you through it.

Be encouraged and inspired to guide your kids through difficult conversations knowing you are leading them to the ultimate place of love, truth, belonging, and life.


**Received a copy via The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review**

“Take steps towards him in love and obedience, and he’ll make his home with you and transform your heart.”


When I saw the title for this book I was really excited to read it. Jesus has always been part of my life, which is a blessing, but it also comes with certain stagnant feelings at times. I wanted to rejuvenate my relationship with Christ in a way that influenced my day-to-day life. 

In that way, I’m not entirely sure if this book accomplished that. 

I still recommend it— I have no issue with anything he wrote in the book. I think many readers will find it really helpful. 

For me personally, for whatever reason, I found myself really distracted reading it. Certain chapters were more engaging than others, but I often found myself re-reading the same paragraph over and over again until my brain comprehended that I was reading something. I don’t know if ‘bored’ is the right word, but it just wasn’t quite the read I was expecting. 

And that’s partly on me. I can’t always go into a book with my own expectations and not a willingness to see what God has for me in it. I could have done a better job of staying focused. And to his credit, the section headings throughout the book are really helpful in getting back on track with what points he was trying to make.


Yet, when I was almost finished with the book, I had an experience that really clarified something for me. 

At the end of every chapter Chester includes an action step and some reflection questions. The reflection questions weren’t super profound or deep and I’m not sure how much discussion would really come from them. The action step often required imagination. 

Imagine you are in the room with Jesus, imagine Jesus praying for you, imagine what it will be like to see Jesus face to face. I appreciate this exercise and I think it’s important, but I struggled to do it. 

However, my husband and I finally got around to starting the series The Chosen which is a depiction of Jesus’ life. I know we’re late to the game, but we’ve watched a few episodes now. 

And I will tell you, those three episodes did more for me than this entire book. I don’t know if it’s right for me to say that, but in terms of visualizing Jesus and my relationship to him, that show (at least as far as we’ve watched) really kind of nailed it for me. 

Chester’s book tries to use words to remind you how Jesus sees you and how praying to him and engaging with him pleases him. But, for one example, in The Chosen, there is this scene where Jesus is surrounded by children and he asks them if they know a certain prayer. They all start reciting it. The look that Jesus has for those children praying (to him) and speaking Scripture is hard to put into words, but it speaks a thousand of them. You see it and you just realize the compassion Christ has for you. It captured the intimacy of a relationship with him. 

Perhaps Chester’s book will do that for many readers. For whatever reason, my heart needed the visual more than the words. Maybe I’ve inundated myself with so many words about it that they’d lost their meaning to me. Maybe I just needed a different picture. 

It was just that scene that hit me like- ‘Oh, this is what Tim Chester is trying to do in his book! This is what he’s trying to get me to recognize and reflect on.’ Jesus is real and transcendent and we can be in true relationship with him. It’s easy to lose sight of that and feel like God is far away and too busy and important for us. This scene reoriented my perspective. 



Even as I say that, I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that there were several things that resonated with me in the book as well. 

There are 14 chapters each detailing a different attribute of God or gift he has given us and how we can enjoy it. His presence, his compassion, his shelter, his touch, his vitality, his glory, his voice, his connection, his anger, his intercession, his reign, and his wealth. 

What stood out to me is this overarching idea that as Christians, we want Jesus, and we have Jesus. He gave the illustration of a bride on her wedding day. Why is she getting married? Hopefully she doesn’t answer she just wants his money, or the security, or the house. No, she just wants him. I remember that feeling from my own wedding day. 

As the church, we are the bride of Christ, our life is about wanting him. And he is all we need. 

No matter what happens in this life, no matter what worst-case scenario flits in my mind from day to day, I have all I ever need— Jesus Christ. 

I thought this quote he included from Thomas Watson was powerful:

 

This book is essentially a reminder of all we have in Christ and that is a good thing to be reminded of. 



A few other points I found interesting:

 - His chapter on the anger of Jesus was interesting to read because we usually think of anger as a bad thing, and truly, we rarely get it right. But Jesus’ anger was righteous. Chester points out that we see in Scripture when Jesus is the most anger it’s usually because of two things: passion for God’s glory or his love for the afflicted. And that tells us exactly what we need to care the most about: God’s glory and the afflicted. Are those things that get us worked up? Is that what enrages us the most? 

 - In his chapter about the delight of Jesus he talks about the Song of Solomon and how a lot of people don’t realize that it’s not just a picture of romantic love, but it’s a picture of Jesus and his bride, the church. That Jesus enjoys his time with us. He looks forward to being with us and hearing our voice. The song talks about ‘foxes’ that try to get in the way of their love, and how we should try to catch our own foxes that hinder our ability to be with Jesus and delight in his presence and his delight in us. 

 - In his chapter about the glory of Jesus he talks about FOMO. There is a lot of people who view following Christ as ‘missing out’ on everything. Sobriety means we can’t have wild nights out. Generosity means we can’t have the fanciest car or the biggest house. Service means we put others’ needs ahead of our own. Chastity means we can’t have all the sex everyone else is having before marriage. What an empty life! they might think. And maybe sometimes we think it too. Our devotion to following Christ might make us feel like we’ve lost something or we’ve missed out on something. But Chester reminds us that we share in Christ’s glory. As Paul said, “to live is Christ, to die is gain.” In Christ we have a much more full life because we enjoy him forever. He surpasses all else. He is the pearl of great price. We should sell it all to have him. He could never disappoint. I like this quote:

 

One last comment on the book. He begins his book with a chapter titled ‘Mike and Emma’s Tuesday Afternoon.’ It was a narrative about Mike and Emma and various struggles they had that day. This is the illustration and foundation that Chester builds on to show us how to put these chapters into practice. In between the chapter teaching and the action/questions, we get a snippet from Mike and Emma’s day with an extra paragraph added to show how they reoriented that experience or struggle around the attribute or gift from God.

I thought this was a really good way to show readers how this can be applied in real life. It identified relatable interactions and thoughts that we might have and showed how we can adjust our thinking and look to Jesus during those times.



Recommendation

I do recommend this book. I’ve stated that it didn’t quite do what I was hoping it would do, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not a worthy book to read. There are lots of good things in here and I think if I read it again in another season of life I might have a completely different experience with it.

It wasn’t my favorite read of the month, but I won’t disregard it or keep it from anyone else.

We should all be enjoying Jesus, and this book may be what you need to remind yourself of all the ways and reasons that we can delight in the Lord every day.


**Received a copy via The Good Book Company in exchange for an honest review**

“Norah was more certain than ever that this house was a tomb that sucked hope from the hearts of anyone who occupied it. It was as if the sun had gone down at 322 Predicament Avenue the night Naomi’s murdered body had been found, and it had never risen again.”

“The house at 322 Predicament Avenue held secrets, and they were screaming out to be revealed.”


Wow! This was a great read! It’s a spooky dual-timeline book about a haunted house— the place of the only two murders in the small Iowa town of Shepherd, one recent, one from 1901.

I admit, the cover of this one didn’t really draw me in, but this is definitely a book I would recommend.

I don’t love ‘supernatural’ books that can blame ‘spirits’ for weird happenings. Sometimes it works, but most of the time it doesn’t. Without giving too much away on this one, I will say I really liked how it all came to be revealed.

If you’re looking for a spooky read this fall, add this to your list!


Basic Premise

1901 (I read an ARC and Goodreads says 1910 so this may have been changed): Effie and Polly James— teenage sisters— go on an adventure to knock on the door of the town’s ‘haunted house’ on Predicament Avenue (a kids’ tradition in that town). But when they reach the porch they hear a woman’s screams. Polly peers through a window and sees something shocking. They flee to get help. When the police show up there are no signs of a murder but the girls know what they heard and saw. An Englishman (Mr. Anderson) shows up looking for his wife and together he and Effie try to figure out what happened at the house and if his wife was involved.

Present day: Norah Richman operates a bed and breakfast out of the house on Predicament Avenue. It’s been in the family, but Norah does not enjoy her work. She is only doing it to carry out the dream of her twin sister, Naomi, who was found murdered on the property 13 years prior. The house’s history has drawn a true crime podcaster, Sebastian, to her B&B to investigate for himself. When a guest ends up dead and his wife claims they saw a ghost, Norah faces a potential lawsuit and is forced to partner with Sebastian to uncover the secrets of the house.

“Death had been a guest here at Predicament Avenue for decades, and it was clear that Death wasn’t ready to check out quite yet.”

Two murders. Years apart. But the similarities between the two unsolved murders are uncanny.

“Evil never really goes away. Once it stains a place, the mark remains for generations. its horror is repeated. It rises from the grave to haunt.”

The chapters alternate between Effie and Norah’s timelines, but we also get chapters that are just titled ‘Her.’ These explore the woman’s imminent death and the evil deeds of her life that she must come to terms with. She has accepted her fate.

“A reality that is unavoidable. I have dug the pit of my own grave and am simply waiting to be placed inside of it. It will happen soon. When night falls on Predicament Avenue.”



What I Loved

I loved that it took place in a small town in IOWA.

I loved the ending and felt like the twists were very well done.

I loved that we got the spooky vibes and haunted feels without demonic forces or too much gore.

I loved how it explored the deep and profound themes of death and fear and grief.

The author notes in the back:

“Effie feared death. Anderson feared grief. Norah feared living. Sebastian feared himself, the inadequacies of who he felt himself to be as a father, instead cheating himself of the greatest gifts God can bestow.”

And then we had ‘Her’ who was “broken by the struggle between right and wrong.”

I thought that was a great combination to weave into this store of a haunted house and its secrets.

Jamie Jo Wright writes for suspense and enjoyment, but she doesn’t leave us in a dark story of death and despair. She leads us to a hope and a light in the darkness. It’s not overt through the whole story but as she wrapped it all up, she cleared the path out.

“This is evil at its core. Fear. Fear is a lack of hope and a belief in the murder of our dreams, our lives, and even our salvation. But if I’ve learned anything during my stay at 322 Predicament Avenue, it’s that to live— to truly live— is to hope that there’s a deeper purpose for our lives. That a person’s life, no matter how short or how long, how peaceful or how turbulent, how adventurous or how tragic, is not wasted.”

“‘We can’t be afraid to live just ‘cause we’re afraid of dyin’. Seems to me we’d be better off seekin’ out the truth of it.’- - ‘The truth of what?’- - ‘The truth of what comes after.’”



I thought it was interesting how Wright kinda uses this ‘haunting’ aspect to depict grief. It’s an interesting similarity to think about.

“We’re afraid of death in part because we’re afraid of the grief that follows. Death is momentary, but grief is what’s left behind. The remnants of every memory, every moment, every emotion. Grief is all the unspoken words that will never be said, the lost I-love-yous, and the emptiness of the shadows they leave behind. Grief is a demon that stalks.”

I think that’s a profound realization. It encapsulates the very real feelings of grief. And I think it also identifies the dangers of certain kinds of grieving. It is not bad to grieve, but if we allow our grief to haunt us and leave us empty, we have allowed the past and the impossibility of the future we wanted too much power over us.

“Tears of missing someone aren’t tears that lack courage. Instead, you have the courage to feel the empty spaces, but hope for when they’ll be filled again.”

I think ‘right’ grieving shouldn’t trap us and shouldn’t leave us empty. Not if we believe that God’s ways are higher than our own. Not if we trust that his way of filling us, though different than our ideas, is still good and right.

The stalking demon of grief keeps us from the light and hope that we have in Christ. Grief is real and painful and God doesn’t ask us to ignore it or push it down, but he does command us to look to him, not the shadows and the empty spaces. There is no fear in his love.



Randos

I always find it interesting when I end up reading books with similarities one after the other without having planned it. There were a few threads in this book that I’ve read recently.

Polly becomes somewhat mute after the traumatic witnessing through the window of the house. I’ve read 3 other books recently that have had mute girls: Gallant, Please Tell Me, and House of Glass.

I’ve also read a few books lately about this idea of grief and how life is worth living. We can’t let fear or grief keep us from the joy of living. I suppose that’s a common enough theme, but not always for the books I end up reading so I thought it was interesting that I’ve read so many in such a short span: The Midnight Garden, The Lonely Hearts Book Club, Lenny Marks Gets Away with Murder.



I really don’t have much criticism for this book. The only things that come to mind are very minor:

- The way Wright wrote the British accent for Sebastian was really hard for me to grasp and hear in my head. the leaving off of the ‘g’s and endings of words made it sound more Southern in my head. Maybe it was supposed to be more cockney? I don’t know, but I wish I could have heard the right accent when I read his parts.

- [Somewhat a SPOILER] [Polly was the one who witnessed the murder but was so sick or in shock that she couldn’t talk about it. When she finally came to speak it felt anticlimactic that she didn’t really have any new or explosive information. It would have been more exciting if she was finally able to give them a clue of some sort. (hide spoiler)]



Recommendation

I would definitely recommend this book! It’s the perfect October read.

This was my first book my Jamie Jo Wright. She also wrote The Lost Boys of Barlowe Theater that has been on my TBR. After reading this book, I will definitely be checking out her other books! It looks like her other books have a similar vibe to them, so if you like this one I think you’ll have a pile of reading ahead of you.

She is a Christian fiction author, and like I mentioned, there is evidence of that towards the end of the book, but I think readers who aren’t Christians will have no problem enjoying this book.

Well, unless you’re looking for some sort of horror/slasher kind of spooky with demented characters, lots of blood and cursing…. because that is definitely not in this book.

So go get this book and prepare yourself for the lovely month of October!



[Content Advisory: some scary vibes and jump-scare type of scenes, no swearing, sexual content, or demons]

**Received an ARC via NetGalley**

“This book is about how the line ‘how God loves us even though we are spiritual failures’, however well-intentioned is unbiblical, inaccurate, and unhelpful.”

“God does not mean for Christianity to be impossible.”


This little book is a great read!

Especially for those who feel like the subtitle suggests: guilty about how little they’re changing the world, how little they know, how much they mess up, how much money they have, and think they’re doing a terrible job at being a Christian.

It reminded me a lot of Jared Wilson’s book The Imperfect Disciple which is also very good.

I love Kevin DeYoung’s books because they are always easy to read, easy to understand, and really seem to ‘get’ where the average Christian is at in their walk with the Lord. There is nothing radical about this book that pushes you into further guilt; it’s about showing how Christianity is possible. We can get to heaven and hear the words ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.’

He says about this book: “This book isn’t about getting to heaven. This book is about whether on our way to heaven we are doomed to a life of guilt, impossible standards, and failure.”

It’s not that following Christ is easy, but when we are so wrapped in guilt and the impossibility of the tasks before us, we’re more likely to sit and wallow rather than rise up. We will “do less for Christ” not more.

Even though I’m pretty aware of the popularity of assigning guilt to people in almost everything these days, I think I hadn’t really reflected on the guilt I was burdening myself with in my spiritual life.

To me, it was just part of being a Christian (and of not being prideful) to live in the place where ‘I never pray enough. I never evangelize enough. I never give enough. It’s just never enough. I could always do more, and that’s just part of being a sinner and a Christian.’

DeYoung pulls out all kinds of Scripture to show us that though we won’t be perfectly good or perfectly obedient, we can be TRULY good and obedient. That God can be pleased with us right here and now on Earth, even before we attain our glorified, perfect selves.

What an encouragement!

And a good reminder not to make little of the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives.

“We’ve convinced ourselves that true piety means the acceptance of spiritual failure, but we can all think of parents or pastors, or friends or family members, or missionaries or grandmothers who lived like good and faithful servants. They were champions for Christ, not punching bags for God’s disappointment.”

We’ve seen it in others, we, too, can be faithful servants of the Lord. And it doesn’t require perfection.


This book is not to excuse us from ever trying; it’s not fatalistic.

“There are some who should doubt, but not those who desire holiness, hate their sin, and flee to Christ.”

He quotes some from Hebrews which was fitting considering I just finished a Jen Wilkin’s study on Hebrews where we looked at the Hall of Faith (Chap 11) that lists all the people in the Old Testament that were counted as faithful. Both Wilkin and DeYoung pointed out what a mixed bag of ‘faithful servants’ there are.

“We have liars, cheats, doubters, braggarts, prostitutes, murderers, and adulterers.”

“And yet Scripture presents each one as commendable, not because their sins should be glossed over, but because, by faith in the promises of God, they did mighty deeds.”

We don’t have to wonder if our failures disqualify us from living faithful lives.

Hebrews 13:16 says “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Romans 12:1 says “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”

We can present our offering of worship and a faithful life of obedience to God and it is acceptable and pleasing to him today.



DeYoung reminds us that God didn’t set us up for failure. He didn’t give us all of Scripture to show how we will always be sinning failures who are hopeless to please him. Christianity is not impossible.

Of course, we can’t do anything without the Holy Spirit. But we DO have him, and so we CAN please the Lord just like Abel did with his offering, just like Noah and Abraham and David and Moses.

He also reminds us that we can do something, but we can’t do EVERYTHING. God has given us very real limits. We are not failing at being Christians when we haven’t corrected all the unjust systems, adopted all the orphans, or given money to all the hurricane victims. We have physical boundaries, financial boundaries, time boundaries, emotional boundaries. We are indeed called to serve those around us, our neighbors on the side of the road; but we are not necessarily called to serve all the neighbors on the side of every road.

“God may ask me to change my priorities. He does not ask me to change the world.”



I really liked the last chapter of the book called ‘A Quiet Life.’

“One of the great disservices we have done the church is to let people think that getting married, having children, staying married, taking those children to church, teaching those children about the faith, buying shoes, and training those children to be kind and courageous Christian adults is something other than radical discipleship. If we too are ‘exiles’ (1 Pt 1:1), then Jeremiah’s counsel to the Jews in Babylon is good advice for us as well: settle down, raise a family, and seek the welfare of your temporary home. (Jer 29:4-7)”

Raising a family is not nothing. It is a big something.

In 1 Tim 2:1-2 Paul urges them to pray “that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.”

There are going to be some people out there with David Platt’s ‘Radical’ evangelism and Bob Goff’s radical resources to do some major work for the kingdom. That is not wrong. But we don’t have to feel guilty if it’s not us.

God calls us to be faithful with what we have, where we are. To be faithful with little that we would be faithful with much.

A quiet life may seem small and simple, but if it’s a faithful quiet life of integrity, we can be commended like those in the hall of faith. ‘Small’ things are big in the hands of a big God.

As a stay-at-home mom, I’m battling the sentiment that I’ve ‘settled’ (in a negative way) and that I’ve given up my dreams and that I should be doing more, working more, or what have you; that my life isn’t big enough or loud enough. But those sentiments are not from the mouth of God. (I wrote more about that HERE.)

He may call me to something more than this, but this is more than enough for him.


Recommendation

This is definitely a book I would recommend. It’s short and could probably be read in one or two sittings. It’s accessible, relatable, and important. 

It is a book meant to fuel and lift up your faithful living. It will reorient your perspective on the things that burden you with guilt. The Christian life is not a life meant to be spent in guilt. Jesus died for that. 

Christianity is not impossible. Let Kevin DeYoung tell ya about it!


P.S. The cover image is a maze that is impossible to solve. Don't ask me how I know.

“Tessa’s casual use of the word ‘we’ makes me wince. Her life is full of ‘we’… I didn’t realize the joy of ‘we’ until I became just me.”


The Midnight Garden is similar to The Lonely Hearts Book Club in that it’s about finding how to live life when grief has kept you still and isolated. But instead of a book club, this story is set in a small town like Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls with a Hallmark movie-esque plot and characters.


This story alternates POVs between our main characters and love interests— Tessa and Will— who both grew up in the small town of Kingsette, Rhode Island.

Tessa is a young widow whose husband had died in a car accident a couple years ago.

Will left town for L.A. straight out of high school and has been forced to come back and take care of the family inn after his mom disappeared without word.

Will would like to get things in order and go back to California, but when he and Tessa find themselves alone together on the roof-top of the inn there is an unseen force drawing their lives closer and closer.


Now many say they love the magic of this story. The ‘magic’ was probably my least favorite part.

We have this character named Maeve. She lives in an old cottage by the lake with a big garden. She hosts late night ‘gatherings’ where she sometimes connects with the dead. Classic of a small town, there are mixed reviews on Maeve’s presence there. She’s a scam artist. She’s a kook. She’s breaking up engagements. The rumor mill is loaded.

Tessa is interested in her because she wants to connect with her deceased husband to tell him she’s sorry. She has been holding on to a lot of guilt about the night he died.

Will is interested in Maeve because Maeve is wearing his mother’s ring that she never took off and would never sell or give away. Maeve must know where she went and can make her come back.

I like books with the fanciful type of magic. Magic in the form of a medium like this I don’t view as magic. Too often in real life people believe it’s real. And it is not.

In the book Will feels like Maeve is manipulating Tessa and others. I agree with that. Even if she wasn’t a scam artist with ill intent, I do believe what she was doing was wrong and manipulative.

I’m not sure what message Roth was attempting to send in this book, because there were elements that eluded to Maeve’s magic just being that she was helping people see that they already had what they needed to move forward with their lives. They didn’t actually need magic, they just needed to believe that they had courage and hope and confidence to make such and such decision.

It’s unclear whether Maeve actually thought all her little teas held any sort of power or if it was the placebo effect. Either way, it wasn’t MY cup of tea.



What I did like was the message of living life. And not letting grief keep you from moving forward.

“You didn’t die, Hope. You lived, and it’s okay to live.”

I think this exchange resonated with me when I think of my own times of grief:

“What do you want, Hope?” - - “I want impossible things.”

It’s really hard when our deepest longings are impossible things. It can be paralyzing to move forward as if we’re giving up on that. But we can’t get ourselves trapped and chained to our impossible wants. We can trust that God has good things for us. There is more life to live and good things yet to come if we’re willing to open our hands from clutching impossible things and seeing what things ARE possible.

I’m not a fan of the ‘follow your heart’ message, but I believe in the message that we can’t live a ‘safe’ life and avoid relationships. Relationships are a mess worth making. We need people. And yes, that opens us up to loss and grief and hurts. But we can’t live life in a bubble, impervious to the touch of others.

“Maybe it was never about building a life safe from loss.”



The love story aspect of it was good. I liked Tessa and Will and their friendship. And I liked the Stars Hollow feel of the town with the inn and the bicentennial. And of course we have Annette who was the Taylor figure. And the gossip channels with the coffee shop and whatnot fit with the Gilmore Girls vibe as well.

“This is the problem with returning home, returning to Kingsette specifically— too many people know too much. They can weaponize your past.”

There were bluebirds all throughout the story so I figured it had to mean something. I looked it up and sure enough: blue bird is “a symbol of hope, love, positivity, and renewal.” I don’t buy in to the New Age-y stuff, but I respect some well-placed symbolism.



Recommendation

This is a Hallmark-type of feel good romance novel with a smidge bit of mystery surrounding our Maeve character that may or may not be ‘magical.’

It’s not going to knock your socks off, but it’s a quick and enjoyable read.

I think those who have experienced a loss like Tessa especially might find they connect with it really well. Elaine Roth is a young widow herself so I imagine Tessa’s character and feelings are based on her personal experience and may resonate well with other widows who know that ache and guilt and the difficulty in moving on.



[Content Advisory: handful of f- and s-words; several gay/lesbian couples pop in here and there but aren’t the main characters]


**Received an ARC via MB Communications in exchange for an honest review**