Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

The Weekly Read

Trouble in Paradise: Review of Tidewater Inn by Colleen Coble

When a historical preservationist inherits an old inn on Hope Beach in the Outer Banks, she gains a load of trouble, too. Libby learns of her inheritance — and a brother and sister she never knew she had — from her friend and business partner, who is kidnapped as Libby watches on a beach cam. Libby heads straight for Hope Beach to search for her friend, claim her inheritance and discover her future.

Colleen Coble’s Tidewater Inn is full of suspense, mystery and, of course, romance. What I love about Coble’s books is that they’re a good blend of all three. Of the four Coble books I’ve read, I enjoyed this one the best. Libby is searching in lots of ways, and her struggles to find family, purpose and identity are universal. Coble has a way of transporting readers to her destinations, and suddenly a vacation to the Outer Banks is on my “someday” list.

If you’re looking for an escape, and don’t mind a little trouble in paradise, pick up Tidewater Inn. As summer comes to a close, a virtual trip to the seaside might be just the thing to let the season linger longer.

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As part of the Booksneeze program, I received an electronic copy of Tidewater Inn free from Thomas Nelson Publishers in exchange for this review.

Do it all, be everything and other lies: Review of Perfect Lies by Jennifer Crow

As the kids settled into bed last night, hollering for “Mommy!” the umpteenth time, I snapped. Staring at the mound of dishes still dirty in the sink, thinking about the four loads of laundry yet to be folded in the bedroom, I wondered how on earth I could be so tired at the end of the day. Never mind that the kids were up at 6:30. Or that we went to the grocery store. Twice. Or that we cleaned a corner of the living room that had been begging for attention for at least a month. Or that I kept the kids occupied while my husband searched for jobs and returned e-mails and phone calls.

The day had been full. I was empty. And still I felt like I wasn’t enough or hadn’t done enough.

I was believing a lie that Jennifer Crow address in her new book Perfect Lives Lies. The lie that says I must prove myself because my worth depends on what I do.

Crow’s book targets nine lies that keep us — especially women, I think — from having a healthy, joy-filled life. She speaks from her experience with an unidentifiable illness that plagued her for years. This health crisis drove her to examine her life and combat the lies she’d been believing. Health returned to her body as she found freedom from the crippling lies.

I could identify with many of the lies she talks about it in the book. And the author is super honest about her own journey: how her life might have looked perfect on the outside but was a mess on the inside. Crow offers hope to women who desperately want a happy life and feel like they’re missing something, even though they might be doing everything “right.”

That said, I had a hard time with the writing style of the book. Although she’s writing personal stuff and trying to connect with readers, I got a little lost in the jumble of words sometimes. The book didn’t flow well for me.

However, Crow offers a guide for meditative prayer, which she wholeheartedly endorses. For her, the key to overcoming these lies was forming new word pictures in her mind of truths. So, even though some of her word pictures were a little bit different — like Jesus washing her hair — she found freedom by examining the roots of these lies in her life and substituting pictures of Jesus in the midst of hurtful situations.

It’s not a book to breeze through but one that needs time and space for contemplation and putting into practice what she offers.

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In exchange for this review, I received a free copy of the book from Tyndale House Publishers.

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