EFR REVIEWS

    The Bible tells the story of God meeting real people in a real time and place, yet we rarely take the time to wonder,  Why there?  Maybe we have a hard time even picturing where  there  is. To begin to fully understand the Bible, we must understand the geographical settings of Scripture and how each place participates in the biblical story.  With its colorful maps,  The Basic Bible Atlas  helps us link geography to Bible study so we can understand how place impacted events in the Bible. From Eden to Egypt, from the promised land to Persia, from Bethlehem to the New Jerusalem,  The Basic Bible Atlas  is a fascinating guide to the land of the Bible.  ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Dr. John Beck, a theology professor for over twenty-five years, inspired by not only his studies but also his many treks across the Middle East, developed the Basic Bible Atlas as a tool to enhance bible studies for readers around the world. Beck explores and maps out m...

WILDER BOYS #1 Wilder Boys   Two brothers will need all their wilderness skills to survive when they set off into the woods of Wyoming in search of their absent father. Jake and Taylor Wilder have been taking care of themselves for a long time. Their father abandoned the family years ago, and their mother is too busy working and running interference between the boys and her boyfriend, Bull, to spend a lot of time with them. Thirteen-year-old Jake spends most of his time reading. He pours over his father’s journal, which is full of wilderness facts and survival tips. Eleven-year-old Taylor likes to be outside playing with their dog, Cody, or joking around with the other kids in the neighborhood. But one night everything changes. The boys discover a dangerous secret that Bull is hiding.  And the next day, they come home from school to find their mother unconscious in an ambulance. Knowing they are no longer safe and with nowhere else to go, the Wilder Boys head off in sea...

Okay, so today we're looking at a trilogy of Christian self-help style memoirs by Alexandra Kuykendall, plus a bonus, unrelated memoir about her unique upbringing!  works of A. Kuykendall Starting with the ... what do we call these... the "Loving My... " series? (not sure if the set has an official, collective name) #1 Loving My Actual Life: An Experiment in Relishing What's Right In Front of Me ★ ★ ★1/2 Author Alexandra Kuykendall is a writer who has also spent nearly a decade working for  MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) International . In her newest book, a memoir of sorts, she relates the things she learned about her family and herself while carrying out a life experiment in which she spent 9 months making more of an effort to love the life she has rather than the pie-in-the-sky ideal she thought she wanted and was missing out on. As a mother of four -- the youngest 3 years old, the oldest entering middle grade -- with an insane daily schedu...

THE HAPPY CAMPER Home is the place to heal, right? At least, that's what Dillon Michaels is hoping as she leaves her disappointing career and nonstarter love life behind to help her grieving and aging grandfather on his small Oregon farm. The only problem? Her eccentric mother beat her there and has taken over Dillon's old room. After a few nights sleeping on a sagging sofa, Dillon is ready to give up, until she receives an unlikely gift--her grandfather's run-down vintage camp trailer, which she quickly resolves to restore with the help of Jordan Atwood, the handsome owner of the local hardware store. But just when things are finally beginning to run smoothly, Dillon's noncommittal ex-boyfriend shows up with roses . . . and a ring. ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ After her career and love life both go south in less than 24 hours, Dillon Michaels decides to move to Oregon to help her widower grandfather run his farm. Upon arrival, Dillon unexpectedly finds that her mother, ...