Bookish links- July 2025

 

Christian fiction releasing in July 

Narnia is not allegorical. We'll see if I remember all this 😉 

This diy Narnia wardrobe reading nook is so creative! 

Christian fiction set in beach towns 

Love this perspective- what do your bookshelves say about you?

I loved this post on edgy Christian fiction, went down a rabbit hole on movie ratings, and then thought I'd remind concerned parents of The Good and the Beautiful book list and Books for Christian Girls. 

Whimsical bookshelf art I love

Quiz- which apostle are you most like? 

Romance books with no spice

Such a cute library bag! 

Missionary stories for the whole family! 

I'm still posting bookish YouTube shorts and having a lot of fun with it. 

10 historical fiction novels set around the world 

Tree bookshelves- one // two // three 

Small space book storage 

Amazon's list of near death experience (dying, seeing Heaven, and being resuscitated) books... not all of these are Christian perspectives but lots are

Gorgeous book cake

Quiz- which Christian fiction series should you read next? 

Good Books by Christian Musicians

I went through a phase in college where I almost exclusively read chick lit with bright pink covers and biographies/memoirs of musicians. I have been enjoying the occasional musician biography/memoir again, this time with a focus on Christian musicians. I imagine this list will just grow and grow. 

🎶 Adorning the Dark... Andrew Peterson talks alot here about creativity in general and I learned a lot about albums from this one. 

🎶 The Chase... This one is about young adult relationships, not music, but I included it here since author Kyle Kupecky is a musician. 

🎶 City on Our Kness... This TobyMac book will light a fire in you to make a difference in your community. 

🎶  I Can Only Imagine... This is the story of Bart Millard from MercyMe and has also been made into a movie. 

🎶  I Still Believe... Jeremy Camp's novel about his first wife's young death has also been made into a movie.

🎶  In Unison... I liked this Jeremy Camp book, too, written with his wife Adrienne. This one is focused more on marriage advice but still shares music details, too. 

🎶 Like a River... Granger Smith's story is heartbreaking but powerful and this memoir was so well done! He's a great writer.

🎶  My Jesus... Anne Wilson's music story starts with grief. The first halfof the book really broke my heart but this girl has such a lovely heart! 

🎶  Rescue Story... Zach Williams lived fast and hard before he really found Jesus. He talks a lot here about substance abuse and a dysfunctional if not abusive marriage in the beginning of his testimony so be ready for that. 

🎶  Slow Down... Nichole Nordeman's motherhood book wasn't my personal favorite but I did enjoy it. 

May Reads

I did a good bit of reading again in May. I did a book list inventory near the end of the month and realized I need my kid reading to focus primarily on YA and upper middle grade novels now so that's my goal in June. Build up our 7th and 8th grade book list! 

First, grown-up reads...

📖 Bible study: My husband and I have still been studying God's covenant with Moses and trying to understand how/why they aren't a part of most modern Christian denominations' practices. This has been quite the project! June was heavily focused on Passover. 

📖 I Really Do Miss Your Smile (Christian, fiction, short story)... This is the prequel to the Christiansen Family series, the story of how John and Ingrid got together. I really liked it! I can't get enough of these Christiansen books!

📖 Jimmy (Christian, fiction)... Jimmy is great for fans of To Kill a Mockingbird. This was a very moving story but it definitely made me cry. 😭 

📖 Rescue Story (Christian, nonfiction)... This is a memoir if Christian musician Zach Williams' journey into his faith and career. I liked it alright. There's a lot of substance abuse in his background and he and his wife also had a dysfunctional\abusive beginning so be prepared if you decide to read it.  

📖 Self Heal by Design (Christian, nonfiction, health, science)... This was an overall good read for health nerds like myself but I don't agree with every word because of some things from other health books. 

📖 Plus the designated chapters of my ongoing baby reads this year, What to Expect: The First Year // The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding // The Wonder Weeks 

And for my kids' shelves...

📖 Adventure Cat (secular, nonfiction)... One of my kids really loves these nonfiction animal stories and this one was no exception.

📖 Bernard Pepperlin (secular, fiction)... This was a fun and cute story about the dormouse from Alice in Wonderland but there's a final battle svene that'll be a bit much for sensitive readers. I added this to our 5th grade list.

📖 Buzzer Beater (Christian, middle grade, fiction)... This basketball story is the second in a sports series but works as a standalone since each book is about different children playing different sports. I've never enjoyed basketball but I liked this pride/sportsmanship story just fine and it was a hit with my oldest. 4th grade list.

📖 Emmy in the Key of Code (secular, middle grade, fiction, novel in verse)... This was a fun, quick read about a girl taking a coding class at school. I actually enjoyed learning about coding + music and I enjoyed observing Emmy's relationship dynamics with her parents, her coding teacher and classmates, and her new friend. 6th grade list.  

📖 Horse Heroes (secular, nonfiction)... I don't like the fiction series by this author but I have liked her nonfiction research books just fine for third graders. (So far, at least!)

📖 Lightfall #1: The Girl and the Galdurian (secular, middle grade, fantasy, graphic novel)... This quick-read graphic novel was a big hit for my oldest. We hope the second will be a yes, too!

📖 Lucky Scramble (secular, middle grade, graphic novel)... This quick read is about a speed cubing competition. I added it to our 5th grade list.

📖 Mouse Scouts 1-4 (secular, chapter book, fiction, TGTB book list)... These are cute, basically a mouse version of girl scouts.

📖 The Secret of the Yellow Death (secular, YA, nonfiction)... I always enjoy health/medical stories so of course I enjoyed this one. I added it to our 8th grade list.

Picture books we enjoyed this month: Amish Christmas // Audrey Bunny // Books by Horseback // Elsa's Chessboard // The Girl Who Built an Ocean // The Horse's Haiku // It Will Be Okay // Knit Your Bit // Mother to Tigers // Saving the Countryside // Toe Shoe Mouse // Whoosh!

Bookish links- June 2025

Me- except it's herbal tea instead of wine and multiple children instead of a cat 😂

June new releases I'm excited about: The Atlas of Untold Stories // The Codebreaker's Daughter // The Collector of Burned Books // The English Masterpiece // To Love A Beast // From the Valley We Rise // A Paintbrush for Joni. 

17 short classics that are quick to read and easy to understand 

Clean, Christian graphic novels for tweens and teens. 

Fun quiz- choose your favorite summer treats and Tyndale will tell you what to read! 

Love this Charlotte Mason homeschool room! 

Summer travel/staycation fun... First, my lists of books by location: adult Christian fiction // middle grade // picture books // YA

Then, browse our previous travel posts! 

12 (middle grade) books from American history that develop empathy 

You could do so many things with this book tracking Washi tape! 

5 romantic beach reads to swoon for this summer 

4 things Gretchen has learned about raising daughters from life & literature 

Parents- How to prevent the summer slide 

This was such a great read! 5 types of Christian fiction 

Quiz- Which Christian romance protagonist are you? 

If You Liked That, Try This!

I used to have a Christian book podcast and my most popular episode was called If You Liked That, Try This! I got a lot of comments and emails because of that episode and I thought I'd bring the idea back via blog! I'll share more from time to time. 😊

If you like The Girlfriend's Guide to Pregnancy, try The Christian Mama's Guide to Having a Baby. There are a lot of pregnancy books I liked more than these but so many women seem to love the Girlfriends books so I wanted to share it here! The playful-yet-informative tone felt very similar to me. Both books are followed up by more books about baby's first year, toddler/preschool ages, etc. 

If you like Divergent (or Hunger Games), try the Out of Time trilogy. I really enjoyed Nadine Brandes' gripping dystopian thriller but I'll warn you that much like its secular twins this one does contain a good bit of violence.

If you liked Jane Green, try Bethany Turner. The secular author's books are very sex-heavy but I unfortunately loved them when I was in high school. I liked the fun and compelling characters and I like that Bethany Turner can write similarly fun and compelling characters but without the sex scenes. I particularly enjoyed Plot Twist.