Rachelle J. Christensen

Romance, Suspense, Mystery Author

Book Review: The Wife in the Next Life by Abel and Julianna Keogh

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle

I absolutely loved reading this memoir about Abel who became a very young widower due to suicide and how he was able to keep living and find love again. This book is so well-written that I consumed it like a page-turning novel! I couldn’t read fast enough as Abel and Julianna share from their unique viewpoints the story of their courtship and marriage.

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, we believe in eternal marriage and families. It’s a beautiful truth that provides great comfort, but it also brings up a lot of questions when you are sealed to a spouse for eternity and that spouse dies. What happens if you remarry? You don’t stop loving your deceased spouse and they don’t cease to exist after death–in fact, they continue on and the connection remains strong through temple covenants.

As a young widow myself, I found Abel and Julianna’s story comforting, reassuring, and enlightening. They share the good, the bad, and the ugly of dealing with unknowns and factors that most people never consider until they are placed in the harrowing situation of widowhood.

This is a beautiful book that I will be sharing with many as a source of comfort and peace.

Here’s more about the book:

I thought about our future, and for the second time that day, I envisioned a long, happy life together. But when my thoughts focused on the eternities, things got blurry. Could I move forward without all the answers?

We finished lunch and carried our dishes to the sink. As I rinsed off my plate, Abel set his dishes on the counter, stood directly behind me, and placed his hands on my hips. I closed my eyes and leaned against him, enjoying the feeling of our bodies pressed together. I knew if I turned around, Abel would kiss me. I rested the back of my head against his chest, unsure if I was ready to take that step.

You don’t have to do this, I reminded myself. You can marry someone else. Someone who doesn’t have a wife in the next life.

***

When Julianna Taylor goes out on a date with Abel Keogh, she’s shocked to discover he’s a recent widower–he’s only twenty-six. As they continue dating, she falls in love, but a relationship with Abel comes with thorny questions about eternal relationships and her place in Abel’s heart. Can she continue without knowing how thing will work out?

At some point, we all face questions that don’t have easy answers. How we choose to proceed amid doubt and uncertainty can define the rest of our lives.

This is Julianna and Abel’s inspirational, true story about their struggle to open their hearts and endure with faith even when the answers aren’t forthcoming.

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Book Review: Silent Souls Weeping by Jane Clayson Johnson

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle:

I started reading this book about 6 months after my husband died by suicide. I read in bite-size segments because all that my grief-stricken brain could handle at the time, but everything I read was comforting and enlightening. They say that knowledge is power, but it is also comforting. Because of the intensive research that Jane Johnson did for this book, she was able to provide solace to my wounded heart and mind.

I thought that I understood depression, but I didn’t–not really. The experiences shared from Jane and many others helped me to peer through the kaleidoscope of depression. From the perspective of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints it was profoundly instructive. I began to understand things that I had never comprehended before, especially how so many people have difficulty feeling the spirit or feeling close to God while suffering from depression.

Everyone can benefit by reading this book. Even if you think you don’t know anyone suffering from depression, I can guarantee that you do–they just haven’t told you or perhaps they don’t even know how to name the depths of their suffering. Read this book. Talk about this book and pass it along so that maybe we can raise our voices loud enough to help people understand that we DON’T understand depression, but there is hope that we can do better.

Here’s more about the book:

Through the power of story, nationally recognized journalist Jane Clayson Johnson shines a light in the desperate, dark, and lonely reality faced by those who struggle with clinical depression. At once hopeful and heart-wrenching, Silent Souls Weeping examines the stigma and isolation associated with depression, as well as the dangers of perfectionistic tendencies and suicidal ideation.

Beginning with an open and frank exploration of her own experience with clinical depression, the author goes on to share stories gathered from interviews with more than 150 men, women, and teens all members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who have suffered from depression.

Within these stories is a plea to change the dialogue surrounding depression, particularly among Latter-day Saints, who face unique struggles as they try to fit a disease manifest through sorrow into a religion centered on a plan of happiness.

The worst part of depression, writes the author Is the profound isolation it engenders, not just from the Spirit but from family, friends, and community. Sharing our stories is the first step toward ending that isolation. This important book opens the door for a new level of honesty and helpfulness; both for those suffer from depression and for their family members, friends, and Church leaders.

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Book Review: Carried by Michelle Schmidt and Angie Taylor

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle

I’m so grateful I purchased Carried because I needed to read it more than I would have imagined. As a memoir, the writing is stellar and the narrative develops with a page-turning quality as I followed the events of the Schmidt’s search for their daughter, Annie. I loved reading about how the Piano Guys came about with all the hardships and seeming false starts involved. If it weren’t for my family’s love of the Piano Guys, I would’ve missed the chance to read this book which contains a message much deeper than a glance into a tragedy.

Michelle shares the steps she had to take to survive the harrowing search for her daughter and how she came closer to the Lord through this trial. Because I am currently in the refiner’s fire in my own life, I was highlighting passages, struggling to read through my tears, and at the same time feeling uplifted that someone seemed to understand what I am going through.

It is beautiful to see someone turn a tragedy into a teaching moment–make no mistake, it’s not preaching, it’s teaching! I loved the kind and gentle way the story unfolded and how I felt invited into Michelle’s life to witness how Annie’s life was able to touch so many.

This is a must-read for so, so many reasons–for grief, adversity, strength through trials, coming closer to the Savior, and gaining an awareness of how tough this earth life is! Read it and then share it.

Here’s more about the book:

On October 19, 2016, Michelle Schmidt’s plane landed in Oregon, where she was meeting her daughter, Annie, for a camping trip. But Annie didn’t show up at the airport to pick up her mother as planned.Thus began a season of searching and coming up short, of miracles and frustrations, of love poured out and faith tested, until Annie’s body was finally discovered more than three weeks later in the Columbia River Gorge, where she had fallen while hiking.

As Annie’s mother opens her heart to tell her story, her husband’s story (Jon Schmidt of The Piano Guys), and Annie’s story, she writes: “It is my hope that my journey of being tutored by God to trust Him more not only through the loss of Annie but through some of my most vulnerable and personal past experiences will be the means of bringing strength and hope to anyone suffering at this time”.

When the unthinkable happened, Michelle Schmidt made a choice: to trust in God. This remarkable book will give readers the courage and inspiration to make that same choice.

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Book Review: The Fire Queen by Emily R. King

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle

I couldn’t read The Fire Queen fast enough to find out how Kalinda’s story continued. Even though it’s been awhile since I read The Hundredth Queen, I was pulled right back into this amazing setting.

King has done an incredible job of building a world with awe-inspiring powers, people, and traditions. There are so many threads to this plot and I can’t wait to see the full tapestry!

Here’s more about the book:

In the second book in The Hundredth Queen Series, Emily R. King once again follows a young warrior queen’s rise to meet her destiny in a richly imagined world of sorcery and forbidden powers.

Though the tyrant rajah she was forced to marry is dead, Kalinda’s troubles are far from over. A warlord has invaded the imperial city, and now she’s in exile. But she isn’t alone. Kalinda has the allegiance of Captain Deven Naik, her guard and beloved, imprisoned for treason and stripped of command. With the empire at war, their best hope is to find Prince Ashwin, the rajah’s son, who has promised Deven’s freedom on one condition: that Kalinda will fight and defeat three formidable opponents.

But as Kalinda’s tournament strengths are once again challenged, so too is her relationship with Deven. While Deven fears her powers, Ashwin reveres them—as well as the courageous woman who wields them. Kalinda comes to regard Ashwin as the only man who can repair a warring world and finds herself torn between her allegiance to Deven and a newly found respect for the young prince.

With both the responsibility to protect her people and the fate of those she loves weighing heavily upon her, Kalinda is forced again to compete. She must test the limits of her fire powers and her hard-won wisdom. But will that be enough to unite the empire without sacrificing all she holds dear?

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Book Review: The Cipher by Isabella Maldonado

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle

Fans of Criminal Minds will love this book

Riveting. The Cipher is hard to put down! Excellent drop into an FBI investigation working with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Nina was a compelling and colorful character and definitely lived up to her heroic name.

The bad guy was so bad it was scary. The author did an incredible job of writing this realistic story without going into graphic detail. I appreciate how difficult that is to do and applaud her writing skills. That said, there are many disturbing details as this involves a serial killer. This book is not for sensitive readers.

If you’re a fan of the tv series, Criminal Minds, then you will absolutely love this book. You probably won’t get any sleep until you reach the extremely satisfying ending!

Here’s more about the book:

To a cunning serial killer, she was the one that got away. Until now…

FBI Special Agent Nina Guerrera escaped a serial killer’s trap at sixteen. Years later, when she’s jumped in a Virginia park, a video of the attack goes viral. Legions of new fans are not the only ones impressed with her fighting skills. The man who abducted her eleven years ago is watching. Determined to reclaim his lost prize, he commits a grisly murder designed to pull her into the investigation…but his games are just beginning. And he’s using the internet to invite the public to play along.

His coded riddles may have made him a depraved social media superstar—an enigmatic cyber-ghost dubbed “the Cipher”—but to Nina he’s a monster who preys on the vulnerable. Partnered with the FBI’s preeminent mind hunter, Dr. Jeffrey Wade, who is haunted by his own past, Nina tracks the predator across the country. Clue by clue, victim by victim, Nina races to stop a deadly killer while the world watches.

Other books you may enjoy:

A Different Dawn (Nina Guerrera Book 2) by [Isabella Maldonado]   

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Book Review: Spellbreaker by Charlie N. Holmberg

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Book Thoughts by Rachelle

Love the clever magic system and mystery!

Spellbreaker has such a unique and clever magic system set within historic England. Elsie is a character to root for and I couldn’t read fast enough to sort out the layers of mystery! The book wraps up one mystery, but still ends on a cliffhanger. I see that it’s a duology so I’ll be eager to read the next book!

Here’s more about the book:

The orphaned Elsie Camden learned as a girl that there were two kinds of wizards in the world: those who pay for the power to cast spells and those, like her, born with the ability to break them. But as an unlicensed magic user, her gift is a crime. Commissioned by an underground group known as the Cowls, Elsie uses her spellbreaking to push back against the aristocrats and help the common man. She always did love the tale of Robin Hood.

Elite magic user Bacchus Kelsey is one elusive spell away from his mastership when he catches Elsie breaking an enchantment. To protect her secret, Elsie strikes a bargain. She’ll help Bacchus fix unruly spells around his estate if he doesn’t turn her in. Working together, Elsie’s trust in—and fondness for—the handsome stranger grows. So does her trepidation about the rise in the murders of wizards and the theft of the spellbooks their bodies leave behind.

For a rogue spellbreaker like Elsie, there’s so much to learn about her powers, her family, the intriguing Bacchus, and the untold dangers shadowing every step of a journey she’s destined to complete. But will she uncover the mystery before it’s too late to save everything she loves?

Other books you may enjoy:

Keeper of Enchanted Rooms (Whimbrel House Book 1) by [Charlie N. Holmberg]   

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