Through His Eyes

By Virginia H Pearce


As anyone who has ever cleaned out a closet or a basement can attest, clutter is a reality of life. And it’s not just a physical reality. Our minds can become cluttered too, filled with beliefs about everything from our relationship with God to our feelings about our bodies to our housekeeping methods. Some of these beliefs are what author Virginia H. Pearce calls “Truths with a capital T.” They are eternal and will always be true, whether anyone believes them or not. The confusion in our lives comes because mixed in with those Truths are other beliefs, some of which might be useful but some of which are just plain harmful.
In this insightful new book, Sister Pearce invites us to become “inquirers after truth,” to examine all of our beliefs and try our best to see them in the light of the Truths we know to be eternal. By doing so, we can discard the half-truths and lies that may be hindering our progress. Our lives can be filled with greater happiness than we ever thought possible as we learn to see them Through His Eyes.


Read this book. Really. Read it. Doesn't matter if you're LDS or not. This is an awesome book to help you clean out the attic upstairs and gets some better ones in their place. This book is all about watching our thoughts and realizing that sometimes the things we take as truth can be outright lies and bad for our health and self esteem. It helps you to recognize truth with a captial 'T' and truth with a lowercase t and the outright lies that we tell ourselves daily that we hang onto without even realizing it. This is such a wonderful book full of great exercises to get you thinking and on the way to feeling better about yourself and rooting out the weeds in your mental garden.

Double Identity

By Margaret Peterson Haddix


As Bethany approaches her thirteenth birthday, her parents act more oddly than usual: Her mother cries constantly, and her father barely lets Bethany out of his sight. Then one morning he hustles the entire family into the car, drives across several state lines—and leaves Bethany with an aunt she never knew existed. Bethany has no idea what’s going on. She’s worried her mom and dad are running from some kinds of trouble, but she can’t find out because they won’t tell her where they are going.
Bethany’s only clue is a few words she overheard her father tell her aunt: “She doesn’t know anything about Elizabeth.”


Margaret Peterson Haddix is an author I haven't read much of, so I saw this one and decided to give it a try. It was interesting, but sadly it was pretty obvious what was going on and I figured out the whole story simply by reading the summary. I didn't put the whole summary up top because it tells the entire plot and outlines the book. So, if you do read this, DO NOT read the summary on the back. I myself could never not read summaries, but try not to if you want to be at all surprised. Pretty run of the mill when all is said and done.

The World Above

By Cameron Dokey


Gen and her brother, Jack, were raised with their mother’s tales of life in the World Above. Gen is skeptical, but adventurous Jack believes the tales and trades the family cow for magical beans. Their mother rejoices, knowing they can finally return to their royal home.
When Jack plants the beans and climbs the enchanted stalk, he is captured by the tyrant who now rules the land. Gen sets off to rescue her brother, but danger awaits her in the World Above. For finding Jack may mean losing her heart…


Oh, I liked this one. I wasn't too interested in a telling of Jack and the Beanstalk, but Cameron just seems to have quite the imagination for re-creating this timeless stories. Honestly, it felt more like a Robin Hood crossover with Jack and the Beanstalk simply mentioned. It was great fun to read and I enjoyed the heroine, practical Gen. The little love story was sweet and fun, but I've always been a sucker for Robin Hood...

Caleb's Creed

By Brent A. Barlow


Caleb had extraordinary character and impressive stamina. Although he endured many hardships, he kept a positive attitude and learned to create grand opportunities. Even at age eighty-five he was healthy, full of life, and hopeful about the future. His example is one from which all of us can draw great strength and courage. Renowned Church scholar Brent Barlow has formed six guidelines taken from Caleb’s biblical record for living a happy and exemplary life. Incorporated into your lifestyle, these simple guidelines can help you improve your way of life and overall well-being, whether you be eighteen or eighty-two.


This is another shorter LDS inspirational book about Caleb from the Bible. I don't know about you, but I didn't know hardly anything about Caleb simply because I didn't pay much attention to him when reading the Old Testament. After reading this book I can see why the author thought he would be a good inspiration for changing your life. The author gives 6 or so creeds to follow as the heading of each chapter of this book, which are all wonderful. My favorite feature is at the end of the chapter he gives questions to ask yourself to see what you need to improve on based on the specific creed he has just talked about. There were so many good suggestions and there are a lot of things that it gave me to work on. A great, quick read (about 80 pages) that I'll be going back to again and again.

The Storyteller's Daughter

By Cameron Dokey


In a faraway kingdom, a king has been betrayed. Deeply hut and bitterly angry, he vows he will not be deceived again. Unfortunately, the king’s plan to protect himself will endanger all of the realm’s young women, unless one of them will volunteer to marry the king—and surrender her life.
To everyone’s relief and horror, one young woman steps forward. The daughter of a legendary storyteller, Shahrazad believes it is her destiny to accept this risk and sacrifice herself.
On the night of her wedding to the king, Shahrazad begin to weave a tale. Fascinated, the king lets her live night after night. Just when Shahrazad dares to believe that she has found a way to keep her life—and an unexpected love—a treacherous plot will disrupt her plan. Now she can only hope that love is strong enough to save her.


I've never read Arabian Nights, but I knew the basic story of Shahrazad, and I really enjoyed this re-telling. The way the stories are told is fun, with them running their fingers over a length of fabric or cloth. I liked the stories embeded within the story that were akin to the simplistic fables you hear as a child, with adventure, sadness, and a moral to learn. This is a fun addition to the Once Upon a Time series.

Too Much to Carry Alone

By Camille Fronk Olson


Are you carrying a burden or facing a challenge that defies resolution? Challenges are an inescapable fact of mortality. But do we make our burdens heavier by trying to carry them alone?
The Lord has promised us His help if we will turn to Him. Author Camille Fronk Olson writes, “Each of us is personally invited to come unto Christ and trust Him to heal us.” She testifies that “by accepting His invitation to come to Him, we find the way to resolve every one of our problems. We are not talking about temporary, Band-Aid treatments but eternal solutions.”
With such help available, why continue to be weighed down? The Lord has promised to lighten our burdens and give us rest if we take His yoke upon us. This perceptive and hope-filled book reminds us that the only real and eternal solution to our problems is to believe in His promise—and shows us how to take Him at His word.


This is a great little book from Time Out for Women that is only 60 pages long.  I read it in about half an hour and was uplifted and found great insights. This book follows the scripture in Mathew 28; The one about taking His yoke upon you that your burden may be light. This book disects this message and breaks down how we can more easily take His yoke upon us. A great light read with lots of perspective.

The Continuous Atonement

By Brad Wilcox


“I’ll never do it again,” we say—and then we do it. In a world full of challenges, temptations, and even addictions, it is easy to lose hope for ourselves and those we love. During times of discouragement, we must remember that the purpose of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is not just to cleanse and console, but also to transform—and that takes time. Christ is not waiting at the finish line once we have done “all we can do.” He is with us every step of the way, and His Atonement will be available as long as the perfecting process takes—continually.
Most members of the Church acknowledge that perfection is a long-term process, but overlook the continuous nature of Christ’s Atonement that makes that process possible. Peace is found not by giving up or erasing the need to change, but by turning to the One who makes change possible and realizing that we get lots of chances to start again. So, if at fist you don’t succeed—if at second, third, or fourth you don’t succeed either, don’t find excuses. Find the Savior and the blessings of His continuous Atonement.

"Christ doesn't just make up the difference, He makes all the difference."

Reviewing this book is somewhat difficult, because the words to describe it are hard to find. It's inspiring, touching, and filled with hope and love. Everyone finds themselves wishing they didn't make some of the mistakes they made, or like the first line says, breaking promises to never do "it" again. There is so much to know about the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and so much that we misunderstand or simply never knew; for me this book brought to light many things that I just didn't understand or misconceptions that I had about regrets and repentence. If you struggle with anything in your life, pain, sin, sorrow, or loss; this book is for you; a labor of years of experience and collaboration from Brother Wilcox. I only wish with all my heart I could've read it about 10 years ago. It's a book that I know I'll return to with pen and paper in hand and love in my heart.