Spoken For by Robin J. Gunn & Allyssa J. Bethke

Cover Description

Say Yes to the Love Story of Your Life

A great romance was set in motion before you were born. A relentless Lover is pursuing you, and He has made His intentions clear. He wants you to be His forever. How will you respond to the One who longs for you to be His with your whole heart?

In Spoken For, Robin Jones Gunn and Alyssa Joy Bethke speak to your heart about what it means for you to belong to Christ, who you are because of His love, and how that affects the way you live. Drawing on biblical promises and their personal experiences,   these two friends share what it’s like to live out God’s unfolding love story.

You are not up for grabs. You are spoken for.

My Review

I was excited to read this book. I love listening to people's love stories and inspiring tales. It gives me hope for my future.

"If God can do that for them then I know he can do it for me!"

Little did I really know just how much he will do for me and why. Robin Gunn and Alyssa Bethke really helped open my eyes to what God sees in me rather than how others see me. To see him as the pursuer of my life and love, because of the love he has for me, brought a new sense of wholeness. Verses from Genesis all the way to Revelations showcase just exactly what God thinks of us. In chapter two there is a list of them in "What God Says About You", which I loved. Be sure to bookmark that page, you'll be making a few trips back to it throughout the book.

At the end of each chapter there are 5 questions called "What do you think?" which I found very helpful and revealing. In a good way! In the beginning, I wasn't sure I was going to do anything more than read and mentally answer the questions, but God told me I needed to write them down, that this was going to be a growing experience. So I prayed for that I might me completely open and honest with my answers. I learned a lot about myself and about God when I answered all those questions and wrote all those notes in between. Like that though I believed God loved me there was still some hesitation deep inside. Yes I believed God loved me, but did I truly deeply believe it? I believed the words that said he loved me but I didn't understand how he valued and saw me for me. I've always been a strong person, but not perfect. I've let people who were close to me hurt me with their words and views of me and believed what they said was true. Even though I knew God loved me, for the reasons most of us know: We are his children, He created us, etc,. But thanks to Robin and Alyssa, I found out so much more!

• I am of great value
• He knows everything about me and familiar with all my ways
• He has given me nicknames: Peculiar Treasure, Beloved, 
• He will never stop being good to me: Loving, Providing, Sheltering and Comforting, Peace,
• He delights in me because I am His

I understand better now how God loves us and truly wants us! He's invited us to the wedding feast and will one day come to pick us up on a white horse and carry us away like a fairy tale love story. But this is no fairy tale, it is real!

Both Alyssa and Robin were very relatable. One chapter I found really got to me. The end of chapter 8, one of the questions was "What lies do you currently believe about yourself?" My answer was: "That I'll be alone, no friends, no husband, no family. Everyone will leave me. I'll be alone because no one wants me." And with my track record of friends abandoning me over the years that lie has slowly rooted itself inside my heart. Despite how much I've said and tried to believe otherwise. I put the book down for a couple hours and when I came back to read chapter 9 I found a nice surprise. Robin tells a story about a time when she was so sad she couldn't do anything but sob on the floor. She too had insecurities that held no truth to them even after she was married for years but when her husband came and comforted and covered her, that when I learned something:

• GOD HAS ME COVERED! 

My insecurities are lies to hold me back from Him. And what I really loved was how Robin's husband loved his wife as Christ tells every man to do. It made me believe more that there is someone out there for me that will love me as Robin's husband loves her and show that same affection and patience that Christ shows me everyday and I pray Christ's light shines through Him just as brightly.

I wish I had this book when I was in my teens, but then, to be honest, I wouldn't have been able to relate to it as I do now. Or draw so much insight and encouragement from it. I believe this is a great book for any young or old woman. To see God and his pursuit of us as a love/romance story is uplifting and inspiring to any woman. Maybe the husbands of Robin and Alyssa should write a male version companion to this book *hint hint*

I highly recommend this book for yourself or perhaps you have a sister or friend. This would make a lovely gift!



I received this book for free from the publisher’s in exchange for this honest and unbiased review as part of their Blogging For Books program.

For Such A Time by Kate Breslin

Product Description

In 1944, blonde and blue-eyed Jewess Hadassah Benjamin feels abandoned by God when she is saved from a firing squad only to be handed over to a new enemy. Pressed into service by SS-Kommandant Colonel Aric von Schmidt at the transit camp of Theresienstadt in Czechoslovakia, she is able to hide behind the false identity of Stella Muller. However, in order to survive and maintain her cover as Aric's secretary, she is forced to stand by as her own people are sent to Auschwitz.

Suspecting her employer is a man of hidden depths and sympathies, Stella cautiously appeals to him on behalf of those in the camp. Aric's compassion gives her hope, and she finds herself battling a growing attraction for this man she knows she should despise as an enemy.

My Review

This vivid and emotionally packed retelling of Esther is filled with hope, love, and redemption. I cannot begin to tell you how much I loved and enjoyed this book. When I first read the description of  it I was, "Oh yeah, that sounds like my kind of book. WW2 and Esther, it should be good!" 

Good would not begin to describe it now. Magnificent, impressive, brilliant and beautifully written! With 51 verses used from the book of Esther, each chapter begins with a verse from various chapters. There's no chapter to chapter basis, whichever verse fits the chapter or was inspired for the chapter is used. Especially in the second half of the book, one chapter might be from Esther 8 and the next one from Esther 2. But each one fit it beautifully! 

The vast majority of the book takes place from February 14, 1944 to March 8, 1944. Less than two months, but when your reading it you lose all track of time. You get absorbed into each of the characters, even the evil Captain Hermann. I love when authors give depths to their villains. It's not just, "Oh your the bad guy." You get a little bit of background on him as well. How and why he became the villain in this story. Even Helen, the mute cook who came with  Aric von Schmidt when he moved to his new station in Theresienstadt, who you mostly only ever see in the kitchen or serving dinner you learn a bit of her background as well. Each one of the characters, put together like a tapestry, help make this one of the best stories I've ever read. 

Of course, my favorites were Stella (or Hadassah) and Aric. Aric's story of redemption was beautiful. After joining the Nazi's, he realized what they were doing was wrong but by that time his hands were covered in the blood of innocent lives and he felt he didn't deserve to be forgiven. So instead he did nothing to change, he ignored the cries in his heart and and tried to bear the sins he had committed on is own. Until he met Stella who helped open his heart and eyes to the truth of God's grace and mercy. Proving that no one is above receiving forgiveness and grace if they are willing to ask and turn away from what is wrong, which he did. 

Stella lost her faith in God, feeling He had abandoned her after a little girl close to her heart died in her arms at the hands of the Nazi's. But like Esther, she is to be the salvation for the jews. She doesn't know how; she constantly wondered what purpose God had for allowing her to live and be rescued by this Nazi Colonel instead of dying with that little girl. Her Uncle Morty had a God given dream that she would rescue them, like Esther did from Haman's evil plot. Stella can't understand what she could do to help them but she wants a sign from God, something to let her know He's still there. She has to learn to be silent and listen for his whispers and have faith. Because he never left her side. He was preparing her for Such A Time, like he did with Esther. 

This book was truly a mirror of the book of Esther if your willing to look deeper. Like in Esther, she was taken into a home unwillingly and forced to stay with a man she didn't even know and could kill her at any given time for whatever reason he might find. God prepared her to be in a position to help her people escape persecution. Even Aric, you can see how his position of power was like that of the king in Esther and how he fell in love with Stella that first moment he saw her. That God had used her to save both him and her people from Captain Hermann.

"For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”" ~Esther 4:14 (NLT)

I am thoroughly impressed by Kate Breslin's debut novel. I hope she continues to write more like it and be just as good as this one. I highly recommend this book to anyone.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars! If you want to purchase this book, just click on the cover above and you'll be brought straight to the book on ChristianBook.com


I received this book for free from the publisher’s in exchange for this honest and unbiased review as part of their Blogging Review program.