What I’m Reading This Summer

My summer reading is often different than my reading the rest of the year because I spend a ton of time reading to my kids over the summer. Because of that, most of the books on my list this year (all but one, it seems) were kids’ books.

Even though they were written for kids, though, I LOVED these series, so they are worth the read for both kids and adults.

If you’d like to see the books we read last summer, check out this post from last year. Included in that post is a list of must-read series for young boys.

Here are the books I am reading this summer.

Percy Jackson and the Olympians series:

• The Lightning Thief
• The Sea of Monsters
• The Titan’s Curse
• The Battle of the Labyrinth
• The Last Olympian

The Heroes of Olympus Series

• The Lost Hero
• The Son of Neptune
• The Mark of Athena
• The House of Hades
• The Blood of Olympus

Both of these series are written by Rick Riordan and are based on Greek mythology. They are great series for kids about 9 and up. My 9 year old LOVES them!

My only complaint is that in The House of Hades and The Blood of Olympus, author Rick Riordan introduces homosexuality into the series. This is a topic I haven’t yet discussed with my son, so I was disappointed that these books brought it up. That being said, many children reading these books are older, so I guess that’s probably why Riordan didn’t hesitate to include it.

The Chronicles of Narnia Series

• The Magician’s Nephew
• The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
• The Horse and His Boy
• Prince Caspian
• The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
• The Silver Chair
• The Last Battle

Though these books are older, they are still wonderful and full of Christian principles!

Devotions for Sacred Parenting

Devotions for Sacred Parenting is a book of 52 devotionals for Christian parents. I guess you could do one a week for a year but I read one a day instead. Each devo is pretty short (usually about 5 pages or so), which is perfect for a busy parent. I tacked the devos on to my daily Bible reading, and enjoyed doing that.

While not every devotional spoke to me (no devotional could possibly do that), most of these did. One of them at the very beginning really made me think. The devo was all about how God is in the room with us when we parent our kids. He’s there when our kids are melting down at Walmart. He’s there when they’re fighting. He’s there when they’re being disrespectful. How differently would I respond to my kids if I really understood that God was in the room with me?

I would recommend this book for Christian parents who are wanting daily or weekly reminders to help them keep God in the middle of their parenting.

The Love Letter

The Love Letter by Rachel Hauck was my one and only adult book I read this summer 🙂

It was such a great Christian fiction book!

Rachel did an amazing job blending two stories into one. One story centers around Hamilton Lightfoot and Esther Longfellow, a young couple in love during the Revolutionary War. This young couple fights to be together but their families oppose each other in the war and will do everything they can to keep them apart.

The second story centers around present day actress Chloe Daschle and screenwriter Jesse Gates. Chloe and Jesse are in a movie together that is based on Jesse’s great-great-grandfather, Hamilton Lightfoot.

Rachel’s books are always really creative and intricate, and this one is no exception. She blends the two stories together seamlessly, and I love how the story ended and brought everything together.

It’s definitely another great book by Hauck.

Prayer Journal Giveaway

A friend of mine recently released a brand new prayer journal, and it’s beautiful!!

I love the blue and teal cover of this prayer journal. I also love that there are three different formats in this one journal: a monthly view, a weekly view, and a notes section.

You can use the journal’s “Month in a Glance” Feature to pray over events that are coming up in the month or to record birthdays or special events or whatever. You can use the “Week at a Glance” section to write names of people or things you pray for regularly. Finally, you can use the lined section to write out prayers, journal, leave notes, write gratitude lists, etc.

This journal offers a lot of flexibility in its use so it should meet the needs of a variety of prayer journalers 🙂 If you’re looking for a new prayer journal, this is a great one to pick up!

*I received a free copy of some of these books, but I was not required to write a review for any of them.