The Cons of Online Genealogy

George, Peggy Sue. The Cons of Online Genealogy. s.l.: s.n., 2015. [Available for Amazon Kindle purchase]

The author who admits she has little personal interest in genealogy is simply disenchanted with a couple of sites which did not meet her expectations. In the case of Ancestry.com, she believes they want to charge her a fee to store her tree, photos, and grandmother's collected data. She completely ignores all the marvelous databases that provide access to records. In the case of WikiTree, she simply misunderstood or did not read the site's terms and conditions. The short rant disguised as a book is full of grammatical, proofreading, and spelling errors. Not recommended.

Romancing Your Better Half

Johnson, Rick. Romancing Your Better Half: Keeping Intimacy Alive in Your Marriage. Grand Rapids: Revell, 2015.

Johnson has written a book to help marriages, particularly newer ones, survive and thrive. When I first began reading the book, I had the impression that the book was pretty negative. Everything seemed to involve things "not to do" rather than focusing on what to do. As I got a few chapters into the book, this began to change. As the book became more optimistic, I began to enjoy it more. Johnson seems to quote heavily from other authors on the topic. I saw similarities to Willard Harley's His Needs, Her Needs and Gary Chapman's The Five Love Languages that I read in a graduate course for a unit on pre-marital counseling. He also quoted Gary Thomas, a well-known Christian marriage author, several times. While I don't think there is a lot of new material here, I do think it is presented in a practical way that many couples may appreciate. There are bullet-pointed tips at the end of each chapter to help couples apply the material in the chapter. There are also some practical lists at the end of the book following the end notes which may be overlooked by many readers who stop when they reach the references. This review is based on an advance e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating

Stanley, Andy. The New Rules for Love, Sex, and Dating. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.

Stanley's work is a good introduction to dating and love for teens and young adults. He addresses these topics that seem to be neglected or perverted by today's culture from a Biblical perspective. The book is designed primarily to accompany a DVD series to which I did not have access. It would probably be very useful in church youth groups or small groups for the youth or young adult singles. While the book could be useful beyond church circles, it will probably not enjoy much popularity beyond them. This review is based on an advance reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.

Praying With Paul

Carson, D. A. Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015.

D. A. Carson has updated his 1992 work A Call to Spiritual Reformation. He explores Paul's prayers and offers insights for modern readers and how they should be praying. The book should appeal to those in ministry as well as to many laypersons in the church. There are questions at the end of each chapter which lend themselves well to group discussions for small groups. The book is well-indexed. This review is based on an advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

The Forgotten Girls

Blaedel, Sara. The Forgotten Girls. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 2015.

An unidentified female body is discovered in a forest in Denmark. There is another crime that appears to be similar. The investigation leads to a connection with a home for the mentally handicapped. most of whom have been abandoned by their families. Louise Rick is the investigator. The girl had been declared dead more than 30 years ago. What was going on there? Where is the girl's twin sister who was also declared dead? Where had the girls been living all these years? Who is responsible for the girl's death? With that dark edge popular in Scandinavian crime novels, this story is certain to please many fans of the genre. The author has created an interesting puzzle with enough questions to keep the reader motivated to continue. The crimes associated with this case just keep mounting. This review is based on an advance reader's copy in e-galley format provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

Who's Picking Me Up from the Airport?

Johnson, Cindy. Who's Picking Me Up from the Airport? : And Other Questions Single Girls Ask. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2015.

Cindy Johnson offers advice for single women in their late twenties and early thirties through a series of letters and commentary based on experiences of her single friends. I suspect that I might have enjoyed the book a bit more if I had been twenty years younger. The title was catchy for me, and I really expected the book to be more of humorous look at singleness. Instead the book was more focused on dating experiences. The format just didn't work well for me, and to be honest, I am probably about twenty years over the anticipated target audience. It probably would work better for those in that generation. This review is based on an advance readers copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review purposes.

A Lifelong Love

Thomas, Gary. A Lifelong Love. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook, 2014.

This book is more or less a book for couples who are already married and having difficulties. There are some questions for discussion and reflection at the end of each chapter. Its tone is quite a bit different--more practical and less philosophical--than his seminal work Sacred Marriage. Persons who are just beginning the marriage journey will be better served by his earlier work. This one is recommended for Christian couples who are unhappy in their marriage as it may assist in resolving some of the issues that are keeping you from love. This review is based on an e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley for review.

Prepare: Living Your Faith in an Increasingly Hostile Culture

Nyquist, J. Paul. Prepare: Living Your Faith in an Increasingly Hostile Culture. Chicago: Moody, 2015.

Nyquist writes about some of the cultural trends that are increasingly hostile toward Christians. He shows how Christians in other parts of the world have been facing persecution for centuries and warns American Christians that we may begin to face this same type of persecution as we stand up for our beliefs. He cites several recent events as evidence of the beginnings of such persecution and believes that it will grow worse. However, he also offers advice to Christians in dealing with these attacks on our faith and also offers hope, showing how revival and a return to God has turned the tide in American church history previously and can do so again. I found this to be a very timely book and was quite astonished to find references to the recent situation in Houston where the mayor made demands on area pastors included. It's a topic that will likely appeal to a lot of Christians and would probably provide good material for small group studies as most of the advice in dealing with the cultural threats is rooted in the Word of God. This review is based on an advance reading e-galley provided by the publisher through NetGalley with the expectation that a review would be written.