The Delusion by Laura Gallier

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy  of the book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own. 

About the book-

By March of Owen Edmonds' senior year, eleven students at Lincoln Forest High School have committed suicide. Amid the media frenzy and fanatical onlookers, Owen remains levelheaded - that is until he encounters his own near death experience and wakes to a distressing new reality. 

Everyone he sees appears shackled and enslaved. 

While frantically seeking to cure his crazed hallucinations, Owen's delusions become even more sinister when he witnesses what appears to be an unseen army of hideous, towering beings. These Creepers, as he calls them, are preying upon people, including his classmates and girlfriend, tormenting and inciting humanity to self-destruct. 

Owen eventually arrives at a mind-bending conclusion: He's not merely imagining forces of evil at work. Everyone else is blind to the evil that is. 

He must warn others and rescue those he loves -- a difficult mission when no one will believe him.

Take this heart-pounding journey through Owen Edmonds' eyes and decide for yourself: Are wicked forces after me?
 
Laura Gallier's debut novel will leave you on the edge of your seat and begging for more.

My thoughts-

The Delusion is the best Christian suspense novel I have read in a while. It was fast paced and the story line kept me aching to find out exactly what was going on. I like that the book creates imagery with the chains to represent spiritual warfare and what everyone might be going through. Even people you might not think are struggling most likely are. I feel bad for Owen because he has a difficult home life, and doesn't have faith, so it is good to see this particular character seeking the truth about what is going on around him. The Delusion isn't for the faint of heart, but I think it is an important book read. It is the first book in a series, so we don't really get any answers in it, but that is a great reason to look forward to book 2. 

Picturing Heaven: 40 Hope-filled Devotions with Coloring Pages

*Disclosure of material connection- I received a copy of the book from Tyndale House Publishers in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are 100% my own.

About the book-

Foster a deeper connection with God through coloring! Picturing Heaven is a unique coloring book featuring 40 illustrations to help you imagine the beauty of heaven, each accompanied by a devotion by Randy Alcorn, who writes frequently on the topic of heaven. Featuring metallic gold accents, lay-flat binding, and bright white paper.

My thoughts-

I think with the climate of today's society, many of us long for Heaven. There are definitely moments of high stress and anxiety for me within my own family life, and in life over all and sometimes I just need something to calm my nerves and remind me what awaits. Picturing Heaven is a great devotional focusing completely on Heaven. It is uplifting with wonderful Bible verses and has great reminders that our big picture is paradise with God. The gold and black color scheme of the pages are absolutely gorgeous and I love that Randy Alcorn has combined a devotional book with the calming art of coloring, which makes for a very peaceful experience. Picturing Heaven is the perfect gift to pair with gel pens or some nice colored pencils!

Little Book of Great Dates by Dr. Greg & Erin Smalley (Book Review)

Disclosure- I received a free copy of the book from Tyndale House Publishers via the Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for my honest thoughts. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions stated are 100% my own.

I think that anyone in a relationship, especially in a marriage, knows how important it is to give each other our time. When we add kids into the mix, that becomes super hard and sometimes gets put to the side. Our children need to see us have a good relationship with our spouse, and I think it is particularly important that they see us try to have time as husband and wife without the kids in tow. Working on our relationship with our spouse should be a good example to them of how a marriage should work and important part of a marriage is keeping connected with one another.

Sometimes it is hard carving out the time to just be together with your spouse one on one. Sometimes it is just mundane doing the same old dinner and movies date, so I was super excited to have the opportunity to read the Little Book of Great Dates by Dr. Greg & Erin Smalley. I thought it was appropriate that this was written by a husband and wife team, since it is meant to bring couples together. This little book (it's a pocket sized little treasure you could certainly keep on the nightstand) is packed with 52 creative date night ideas. Some are more creative than others, but all are designed to get husband and wife talking, reminiscing, planning for the future, enjoying each other's company and learning new things about one another. My husband and I do not have the means to have a date night every week at this moment, but some of these could easily be done at home and if not, I have dog eared many pages of the dates I found to be the most interesting. I plan to have my husband go through it as well and tell me which ones he would like to do the most! The book is intended to start at the beginning of the year with the first date idea and progress until you have come to the end of that year. I am excited to begin these dates with my husband, so I will probably start with the ones I am most interested in and then begin again with the first one in the book in January. I would highly recommend this little book full of great dates to any married couple seeking to stay connected and enjoy each other's company to the full extent. I don't want to give away the date nights here, so you will be surprised when you read the book yourself! I have to say with the holidays coming up, that this little book is the perfect size to fit in your spouse's stocking. :)

You can purchase a copy of Little Book of Great Dates on Amazon.com