EFR REVIEWS

BIG CREEK #1 A work of historical fiction, The Whispering of the Willows is set in the late 1920s in the Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia. Eighth grader Emerald is about to learn some hard lessons when a deeply disturbed man is thrust into her life by her abusive father and enabling mother. Author Tonya Jewel Blessing tells a story about a young woman's struggles and redemption. The blossoming young woman is accompanied by her friends and her foes on the journey towards hope and healing. Love weaves through gut-wrenching circumstances and dismal poverty. There, Emerald Ashby grows strong despite grievous wrongs committed against her.  ★ ★ ★1/2 Emerald "Emie" Ashby is a young girl from a dirt poor family, just starting her teen years, coming of age in the small Appalachian town of Big Creek, West Virginia during the 1920s. With her 8th grade year of schooling coming to a close, Emie's father decides  "she ain't a boy that can carry his

NICE Niceness. It keeps the peace, wins friends, gains influence, and serves our reputations well. It looks a lot like following Jesus, but it takes all the power and freedom out of our lives. In this eye-opening book, Sharon Hodde Miller shares her own battle with this false faith, confesses the bad fruit it produced in her life, and offers practical steps for cutting down the tree at its root. With biblical wisdom, surprising insight, and deep conviction, this book will help you: * identify the most common forms of nice Christianity and how they manifest in your life *stop being nice and start practicing true kindness, honesty, courage and joy *develop a deeper, sturdier faith that can withstand life's storms and even flourish  in the middle of them. Take a stand, take back your faith, and follow the Savior who was kind, gentle, compassionate, patient, and good, but never simply nice.  ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Sharon Hodde Miller, who,with her husband, Ike,

ALWAYS WE BEGIN AGAIN None of us wants to be sidelined, stuck, shamed, or silenced. But the difficulties of life have a way of putting us in a corner, and we don't know how to move forward. We see brokenness in our communities, our relationships, and our spirits. It's so easy to blame ourselves or our circumstances, to get bogged down in discouragement and toxic thinking. But that's not what we were meant for, and that's not how God wants us to live.  Leeana Tankersley has good news if you're struggling: each new day is an opportunity to begin again. In her warm tone and with her signature humor she offers 100 short readings to encourage and motivate you to begin again in your relationships with God, your family, your friends, and yourself. Because there is always a hand reaching toward you, there is always grace available, and there is always a chance to begin again. ★ ★ ★1/2 Always We Begin Again --- the title pulled from a line in The Rule of

THE HIDING PLACE Corrie ten Boom was a woman admired the world over for her courage, her forgiveness, and her memorable faith. In World War II, she and her family risked their lives to help Jews escape the Nazis, and their reward was a trip to Hitler's concentration camps. But she survived and was released--as a result of a clerical error--and now shares the story of how faith triumphs over evil. ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ The Hiding Place is Corrie (Cornelia) ten Boom's memoir --- as told to Guidepost Magazine editors John and Elizabeth Sherrill --- of the imprisonment of herself and several family members after they offered help to persecuted Jewish members of their community.  Prior to World War II, the ten Booms, a family of skilled watchmakers, had developed quite a good business around clocksmithing in the town of Haarlem, Holland. The story opens on the day of the 100th anniversary of the family shop, when Corrie's older brother arrives to the party with an