Now Available! Like An Anchor Study Guide: The Beatitudes

23 June, 202123 June, 2021Marissa

The first book from my new Like An Anchor Study Guide series is now available! (Release date was actually yesterday, but there was a slight delay with the paperback, so I’m posting this today.) I’m so happy to finally share this book with you, and I’ve been thrilled to hear from beta readers and early reviewers how much they’ve enjoyed this book. You can read some of those early reviews here:

Lynn’s review

Peregrine Arc’s review

Now Available for Preorder in the Amazon Kindle Store

If you read my blog series on The Beatitudes that started back in September of last year, then you’ve already seen the first draft of this book. The Study Guide version expands on those posts significantly and each chapter includes discussion/journaling prompts for personal study or for use with book clubs. The book also has a brand new introduction and conclusion, as well as scripture lists with each chapter to provide a starting place to continue studying each Beatitude on your own. Here’s the official description:

It’s safe to say most Christians are familiar with the Beatitudes. Yet even these short, well-known “Blessed are …” phrases contain a treasure-trove of Biblical truth that can deepen our faith and our understanding of the gospel. In this study guide, you’ll find chapters that dive deep into the historic and Biblical context for each beatitude, questions to use as journaling prompts or book club guides, and a wealth of scripture references to support your personal study of God’s word.
As an anchor keeps a ship from drifting with the changing waters, so does a defining belief in God help us ride the waves of life. In this study guide series, we cast our anchors deep into God’s word to seek stability and truth in Him.

Where To Get The Book

The best place to get this book is through Amazon. It’s available in both ebook and paperback formats. It should be showing up in every country’s Amazon store that Kindle distributes to (if you don’t see it in yours, let me know).

Click here to Order The Beatitudes ebook

Click here to Order The Beatitudes paperback

Like An Anchor Study Guide: The Beatitudes available for preorder and ARC

25 May, 202116 June, 2021Marissa

I’m so very excited to announce that the first book in my Like An Anchor Study Guide series is available for preorder. The Beatitudes releases on June 22nd, and you can order an ebook copy now. If you’d rather have a print copy, then you’ll need to wait until June 22nd to order it (for some reason I can’t set up a preorder option for print books).

This book has been a labor of love for several months now and I’m so happy I can finally share it with you all. If you read my blog series on The Beatitudes that started back in September of last year, then you’ve already seen the first draft of this book. The Study Guide version expands on those posts in each chapter and includes discussion/journaling prompts. The book also has a brand new introduction and conclusion, as well as scripture lists with each chapter to provide a starting place to continue studying each Beatitude on your own. Here’s the official description:

It’s safe to say most Christians are familiar with the Beatitudes. Yet even these short, well-known “Blessed are …” phrases contain a treasure-trove of Biblical truth that can deepen our faith and our understanding of the gospel. In this study guide, you’ll find chapters that dive deep into the historic and Biblical context for each beatitude, questions to use as journaling prompts or book club guides, and a wealth of scripture references to support your personal study of God’s word.
As an anchor keeps a ship from drifting with the changing waters, so does a defining belief in God help us ride the waves of life. In this study guide series, we cast our anchors deep into God’s word to seek stability and truth in Him.

ARC Information

In preparation for this books release, I’m looking for volunteers who would be willing to read and review this book before the release. I’d email you a free, PDF copy of this book and ask that you post reviews online by the end of June. If you are interested in this opportunity, please fill out this form:

ARC Request Form for The Beatitudes (now closed)

Please note that I will be closing this form on June 8th, two weeks before the release date, so if you’re interested please apply before then. Ideally, I’m looking for people who could post a review of this book to Goodreads before or shortly after the release date and to Amazon shortly after the release date. Sharing the review on a personal blog or promoting the book on social media is also much appreciated, but not required.

Preorder Information

If you’re not interested in reviewing and promoting this book but you’d still like to read it, you can preorder the book through the Amazon Kindle Store. The paperback will be available for order on June 22nd (which is also when the Kindle copy will be automatically delivered if you preorder the book).

Click here to Preorder The Beatitudes

“Almost A Bride” Book Review

11 August, 202011 August, 2020Marissa

I’m always excited to receive a new Jody Hedlund book to read and review before its release. I’ve read and enjoyed the first three books in her Bride Ships series: A Reluctant Bride, The Runaway Bride, and A Bride of Convenience. This final book, Almost A Bride, was a disappointment for me. There’s some really good character growth, but overall I didn’t enjoy this story nearly as much as I did the first books in the series or her other novels I’ve read. This might have something to do with my own personal experiences, and I’ll be sure to talk about that in this review so you can decide for yourself if I’ve judged the book too harshly.

Kate Millington has no trouble finding potential husbands. Staying engaged, however, is a problem. She arrives in the frontier mining town of Williamsville intending to marry her latest fiancé, only to panic and back out of their deal. He’s the fourth man she’s failed to marry — two back home, and now two more since she arrived in British Columbia on a bride ship. She longs for true love, but she’s also frightened of trusting any man with her heart.

Zeke Hart barely remembers Kate from their childhood. Back then, she was just the little sister of his best friend. He’s sure she couldn’t have good memories of him, considering how he left things back home. Falsely accused of a crime, he ran away to the new world and turned his back on God. Now a prosperous owner of a gold mine and one of the most powerful men in the area, he doesn’t see a need for faith. But meeting Kate again convinces him he has a powerful need for a wife. If only she wasn’t so hung-up on that whole issue of him not being a Christian.

In the background of Kate and Zeke’s personal struggles and ill-advised romance, there’s another threat building. A jealous ex-fiancé stabs Zeke. Someone sets an explosive charge in his mine, nearly killing him. He receives anonymous threats. Perhaps the question of whether or not they should be together isn’t the only thing these two need to worry about.

“A Bride of Conveience” Book Review

23 June, 202019 June, 2020Marissa

As a Jody Hedlund fan, I was thrilled to receive a copy of her newest book A Bride of Convenience to read and review before its release. This is the third book in her Bride Ships series. I’ve also reviewed the other two: A Reluctant Bride and The Runaway Bride.

Pastor Abe Merivale has no intentions of getting married during his five-year mission to spread the gospel in British Columbia. Not even to beautiful Zoe Hart, a former mill-worker among the women to arrive on the latest bride ship. But shortly after their meeting in a hospital, one of Abe’s parishioners shows up and extracts a promise that they’ll find a good home for the infant daughter he hasn’t been able to take care of since his native wife died. Zoe takes to the baby immediately, and Abe finds himself taken with Zoe almost as quickly.

After a series of impulsive decisions, the two find themselves agreeing to a marriage of convenience. Marrying Zoe gives Abe a way to sooth his recent heartache and fulfill his promise to care for the baby, and marrying Abe protects Zoe from a less-desirable match while making it possible for her to keep baby Violet. Abe’s Bishop doesn’t approve of the hasty marriage, though, nor of the half-breed child. Tension and attraction in Abe and Zoe’s relationship rise as they discover this marriage might not be so convenient after all. Read more →

“The Runaway Bride” Book Review

3 March, 202026 February, 2020Marissa

I’ve been a Jody Hedlund fan for some time now, and I was thrilled to receive a copy of her newest book The Runaway Bride to read and review before its release. This is the second book in her Bride Ships series. You can click here to read my review of the first book, A Reluctant Bride.

England in the 1860s was not a good place to find a husband. By the early part of the decade, there were about 600,000 more women than men living in the country. And when employment options are limited, especially for women of noble birth, and marriageable men are hard to come by a 25-year-old spinster doesn’t have many options. Especially when her stepmother wants her out of the house. That’s the situation Arabella Lawrence finds herself in when she agrees to marry her father’s employer. The man is old enough to be her grandfather, and he turns out to be anything but gentlemanly.

Fleeing what would certainly be an abusive marriage, she takes passage in one of the Columbia Mission Society’s bride ships bound for Vancouver Island and British Columbia, where men outnumber women approximately 10 to 1. Their need for respectable, Christian wives is Arabella’s chance at a new beginning. Upon arriving, she instantly attracts suitors with her compassion, charm, and fiery red hair. The most persistent are two very different men — Lieutenant Richard Drummond, a gentleman and naval officer, and Peter Kelly, the local baker. Read more →

Book Review: Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage by Curt Landry

9 December, 20199 December, 2019Marissa

Back in February, I read an article on Bible Gateway interviewing Curt Landry about his new book Reclaiming Our Forgotten Heritage: How Understanding the Jewish Roots of Christianity Can Transform Your Faith. As a Messianic believer, I was excited that a book about appreciating the Jewish roots of our faith was being released by a mainstream Christian publisher like Thomas Nelson.

I didn’t get to read the book until recently because I was distracted by other new releases, some of which I had advance reader copies to review, and I was waiting for a library to buy it. I finally got a copy through an inter-library loan program and eagerly sat down to read. Unfortunately, while this book contains some really good content, I felt like it was too much about Curt Landry and not enough about its stated purpose of helping people understand how the Jewish roots of Christianity can transform their faith.

Our Forgotten Heritage

When Jesus arrived here on earth (or Yeshua, to use His Hebrew name), He didn’t come to bring a new religion. Yeshua came as the next stage in God’s plan which He’d laid out from the foundation of the world. What we now call Christianity has its roots in the faith of the ancient Israeli people and the Jews of Jesus’ time. Though this phrasing is mine, this is one of the main arguments of Landry’s book and it’s the part I found most fascinating.