Each month I will post my personal thoughts on recently read books. For a synopsis I suggest Amazon.com. Books will be rated 1 - 5 daises with 5 being the highest rating. Ratings are based solely on how much I enjoyed the book.

In Love With A Younger Man
Cheryl Robinson

I really loved this book from beginning until the end...alomost. (LOL) I was so ready to give Ms. Robinson her rightfully deserved 5-star rating until I turn to the last page and there it was, the one thing I dread, simply cannot stand, like Joan Crawford, played by Faye Dunaway, in the move "Mommy Dearest" when she screamed "no wire hangers eh...verrrrrr," and for that fleeting moment I must drop my rating by one star.

This was a great book and oddly, I saw a lot of myself in the main character. Oh, there was one part that took me back to 2nd grade when my mother gave me a pack of handkerchiefs (sp?) as the Secret Santa gift. My, how I remember the embarrassment of that day...but I digress.

"In Love With A Younger Man" is a well written story that many of us "new 30" women can relate to. It tells the story of a 40 something single woman who realizes she has made work her man and when she decides to take a year-long sabatical she finds younger men swarming around. The twist at the end had me on the edge of my seat going "oh boy." I highly recommend this book and look forward to Cheryl Robinson's future work.

Why? Trusting God When You Don't Understand
Anne Graham Lotz

"Because while belief is the consent of the mind and faith is a choice of the will, trust is a commitment of the heart." Pg 118.

A close friend purchased this book for me as a gift after the passing of my father a few weeks ago. It was really odd because this person and I had been best friends through high school and our mid 20's but slowly grew apart. About two months ago her husband stopped by out of the blue, to say hi, and the following day "my birthday" she called to wish me a happy birthday. Who would know a month later she would be there to hold me up for one of the most difficult moments of my life.

Another odd thing about her buying me this book is, she is not a reader. In 31 years, I have never known her to pick-up a book, let alone buy one, so the fact that she had purchased this book for me was reason enough for me to take an instant interest in reading it.

The last odd thing is the book itself. See I love the Lord and I know He loves me. He prooves it over and over and when I think of the peace and calmness I have experienced the past 3 weeks reassures me that it is Him who holds my hand. Learning that the book was centered around the story of Mary, Martha, and their brother Lazarus gripped my heart because of all of the stories of the bible, this one leaves me with the most questions. The main one being, did God raise Lazarus from the dead in the physical sense, or the spiritual. Did, Lazarus go on to live a day,a week, a month, or many years. And, is the Lazarus of the book of John, the same Lazarus of the book of Luke?

Although these questions were not answered in "Why?" this little book brought me so much comfort and motivated me in many ways. It reaffirmed beliefs and understandings I already had regarding His word and introduced me to new possibilities. Growing up we were taught never to question God's actions but none the less, those questions pierce our hearts and since God knows our hearts and our every thought, he knows our questions and is ready to answer them.

I recommend this book to anyone who is struggling, not only with the loss of a loved one, but those who find themselves asking God "Why?"

Sinful Too?
Victor McGlothin

It took a while but I finally finished...Woohoo!

What a great read this turned out to be. Talk about kharma coming back to bite you in the rear-end. Sinful Too (I found out is actually a sequel to Sinful) is a story about Dior Wicker, a young woman with a checkered past who has not realized her self-worth or potential for her future. She sets her sights on a very weak Richard Allamay, who is the Pastor of M.E.G.A. church. Richard does not require much seducing and easily falls under Dior's spell. I struggled through the first part of the book because his easy fall was too convenient but midway through my interest picked up as the drama unfolded. By the last 50 pages I couldn't put the book down.

The ending to Sinful Too was not predictable and won this read a 5-star rating.