14 New Books You Don't Want to Miss This Fall
šš I hope you have your Goodreads account open and your TBR list ready...
Here we go! Open your Goodreads account and get your To Be Read list ready, friends.
Iāll share additional book recommendations inĀ Thursday ThingsĀ (plus real-time ācurrently readingā updates in our private All The Things group for paid subscribers),Ā but if youāre looking for a new book for cozy fall evenings, holiday travel, or maybe even a Christmas gift or twoāthis will get you started!
Iāve said it before and it continues to be true: thereās a theme among many of the books below! Because books are typically contracted and written 1-2 years before theyāre available, overall themes always intrigue me. More than any recent ābook seasonā, there seem to be more titles specifically on relationships and prayer right now.
Iāve read an early copy of almost every title below, but for those still on my To Be Read list, they come highly recommended from friends I trust or are written by authors Iāve read (and loved) before.Ā The books are listed in order of release date and include a blurb pulled from Amazon descriptions.
Due to the word count of all the descriptions, this post may only partially show in your inbox. Look for āview entire messageā and click the link, or go here. And please do share with other book lovers!
Quick tip: If a book grabs your attention, go ahead and pre-order now. Most retailers donāt charge until the book releases and Amazon offers a lowest-price guarantee! Say you preorder today for $18.00, the price drops to $14.00 in October, and itās $17.00 when the book releases in Decemberāyou would pay $14.00Ā (on release day) because you locked in the lowest price by pre-ordering.
Onto: the books.
Every Season Sacred: Reflections, Prayers, and Invitations to Nourish Your Soul and Nurture Your Family throughout the Year :: Kayla Craig
With tender curiosity and contemplative wisdom,Ā Every Season SacredĀ is a weekly invitation to grow spiritually alongside our children. Blending thoughtful musings and practical resources, Kayla Craig offers honest and hopeful reflections for every season of the parenting journey; encouragement to parent with intention and imagination, presence and purpose; and open-ended discussion prompts and prayers to explore and practice as a family.
Can You Just Sit with Me?: Healthy Grieving for the Losses of Life :: Natasha Smith
"Why are you still sad about that?" It takes time and space to grieve well, but often our culture doesn't afford us these things. InĀ Can You Just Sit with Me?Ā Smith provides personal stories, biblical reflections, relevant research, practical tools, and prayers that point us to God, who always sits with us in our grief. Whether we are grieving a loss or supporting a friend who is grieving, this book reminds us that every loss is worthy of the space and grace to grieve.
Good Baggage: How Your Difficult Childhood Prepared You for Healthy Relationships :: Ike Miller
Baggage has gotten a bad rap. We think it's all bad. We think it makes us less likely to have good, healthy relationships today. But baggage isn't just the bad stuff that happened to us in the past. It's the lessons we've taken from the pain we carry. It's how what we've been through has actually made us stronger and more capable than we imagine. And it's how we're going to make our current relationships work.
Far from minimizing past pain, pastor Ike Miller shows you how to go through the baggage you carry from a difficult childhood and pull out the good stuff. The intentionality you've developed. The empathy you've gained. The trust you value so highly. You'll find no platitudes or pat answers here. Rather, you'll discover untapped riches of experience and knowledge you already have that can make your relationships thrive and change the course of your life and legacy.
Well Said: Choosing Words that Speak Life, Give Grace, and Strengthen Your Faith and Family :: Sarah Molitor
Maybe you knew how much something would hurt, but you said it anyway because it felt good in the moment. Maybe youāre fighting a habit of complaining or yelling, when you really want to be a person who speaks with kindness and patience. Or maybe you stay silent because youāre never quite sure what to say. Whatever your āmaybeā may be, you are in the right place. Sarah Molitor has learned firsthand that yes, words can hurtābut they can also help and heal.
InĀ Well Said, Sarah uses authentic, relatable stories paired with Biblical truth to help readers use their words to create grace-filled and positive relationships, develop a healthy and balanced approach to social media (and find their wisdom filter), and feel equipped to use words to forgive and reconcile differences so they can live freely and fully.
When a Friendship Falls Apart: Finding Godās Path for Healing, Forgiveness, and (Maybe) Help Letting Go :: Elizabeth Laing Thompson
We all long for āfriends foreverāābut what happens whenĀ foreverĀ ends? Hurt can happen even in the closest friendships, and sometimes friendships fall apart. The loss can be staggering. As we struggle to digest the pain and confusion, we wonder,Ā How could this happen? And what do I do now?
When a Friendship Falls Apart comes alongside readers as they process their struggling friendshipsāthe faltering, the fractured, and the failed. Blending personal story, biblical examples, and faith-filled wisdom, each page explores questions like: how do we guard against the poison of bitterness so we can process the hurt and move forward, when and how do we seek reconciliation, how do we know when itās time to leave a friendship behind, and how do we open up again and entrust our wounded hearts to new friendships. If you find yourself in the midst of a friendship thatās falling apart, or youāre grappling with past hurts and regrets, this book is for you.
Loving Disagreement: Fighting for Community through the Fruit of the SpiritĀ :: Matt MikalatosĀ and Kathy Khang
What does it look like to love someone you disagree with? Fighting, disagreements, hatred, dissension, and silence. These things seem common in the wider Christian community today. Politics, theology, and even personal preference create seemingly insurmountable rifts. Itās hard not to see ourselves as āat warā with each other.
Weāre not doomed to be stuck here, though. InĀ Loving Disagreement, Kathy Khang and Matt Mikalatos bring unique insight into how the fruit of the Spirit informs our ability to engage in profound difference and conflict with love. As followers of Jesus are planted in the Holy Spirit, the Spirit grows and bears good things in our livesāand relationships and communities are changed.
Tonight We Pray for the Momma: 100 Midnight Mom Devotions and PrayersĀ :: Becky ThompsonĀ and Susan K. Pitts
Momma, you are not alone. But we know sometimes it feels like you are. You love your family dearly, but you are tired. Itās in the midnight moments of motherhood that you need to know, more than anything, that God is with you no matter what.
As leaders of the over 1.8 million praying moms of the Midnight Mom Devotional community, Becky and Susan have gathered their one hundred most beloved prayers and paired them with rich devotional stories and biblical wisdom for every stage of motherhood, including the times when you feel hopeless and like youāre hanging on by a thread, worry that youāre failing your kids, need wisdom for raising a fiery daughter or determined son, or youāre searching for joy. God is with you in the moments when the light feels dim and you need peace. He will meet you in His love, sustain you in your journey, and bring you hope in the dark.
Every Moment Holy, Volume III: The Work of the People ::Ā Douglas Kaine McKelvey
Every Moment Holy, Volume III: The Work of the PeopleĀ is a book of over 100 new liturgies for daily moments across all walks of life. Drawing on a range of writers, artists, poets, songwriters, and pastors, this collection represents a community of believers engaged in the work of reminding all of us that our lives are shot through with sacred purpose and eternal hopes even in the midst of the everyday moments that make up our lives.Ā
He Knows Your Name: How 7 Nameless Women of the Bible Reveal Christ's Love for YouĀ ::Ā Paige Allen
Perhaps most days you're left feeling unseen, unheard, or unknown. Though centuries apart from your life today, the women who knew Jesus faced similar fears and insecurities. Their names aren't etched onto the pages of Scripture, but they are etched into the heart of God.Ā
In this book, Paige Allen invites you to take a second look at the life-changing encounters of seven unnamed women who came face-to-face with Jesus. Weaving personal stories with timeless biblical truths, Paige shows how just one encounter with the love of Jesus empowers you to live with an unshakable sense of security and identity, stand confident in the chaos or the silence, and trust His goodness whether your hands are empty or full. You are seen, known, and namedāeven on the days you feel invisible. This is your invitation to let go of shame and discover the courage, grace, and compassion to live seen and make Him known.
Our Faithful God Devotional: 52 Weeks of Leaning on His Unchanging CharacterĀ ::Ā Katie Davis Majors
In a world of uncertainty, we can find peace in knowing that the God who carried His people through the desert, the God who calmed the seas, the God who promised His presence, is still our God today.
In this unique devotional featuring a flexible format that adapts to your schedule, Katie Davis Majors invites you into a yearlong experience of immersing yourself in the truth of who God is. As Katie has discovered, the more time we spend understanding the richness, beauty, and kindness of God, the more quickly our hearts turn toward Him with our needs and our secrets, our hurts and our longings. Our Faithful God DevotionalĀ will help you draw daily closer to the One who sees you, who loves you, and who holds each moment in His hands.
Now I Lay Me Down to Fight: A Poet Writes Her Way Through CancerĀ ::Ā Katy Bowser Hutson
In stirring verse and essays, Katy Bowser Hutson chronicles her battle with breast cancer and the complications of faith amid such a fight. Accentuated by the art of Jodi Hays, Katy's words lead us through the realization of cancer, the experience of chemotherapy and a mastectomy, relentless rounds of radiation, the uncertainty of ongoing treatment, and what comes after survival. She writes in resistance to sickness, of wrestling toward beauty:
Cancer is an overgrowth, a kudzu: Tangling and strangling legitimate life.
Chemo is a killing, a burning out:Ā Burning down to ashy carbon, indiscriminately
But cancer, did you know that I am a poet?
Through it all, she shows what it means to struggle in a battered body and to pray to a God who is near to the broken. Join her in this consideration of mortality and witness her persisting trust in God's unseen ways.
Coming Home: A Roadmap from Fearful to Fully AliveĀ :: Layla Palmer
How do you live fully alive when you feel lost within your own skin? That was the question Layla Palmer struggled with after developing an anxiety disorder that shrunk her confidence and her world. In Coming Home, Layla shares her hard-fought journey, and through soul-suffusing stories, inspiring imagery, curative quotes, helpful research, and restorative family recipes she helps you: feel calmer, clearer, and better equipped to handle stress, tap into the healing power of nature, move past the things that are holding you back, and reconnect with the home of who you are.
Anchored in hope,Ā Coming HomeĀ bravely demonstrates how you can overcome adversity, soften to your whole self, build a place of belonging, and live fully alive.
Jesus, Calm My Heart: 365 Prayers to Give You Peace at the Close of Every DayĀ ::Ā Ruth Schwenk
When coming to the end of a day feels like coming to an end of ourselves, we often struggle to find the words to prayāor even know where to start. Whether you're exhausted from worry, fear, unanswered prayers, pain, rejection, regret, or lack of joy or purpose, each of these 365 nightly prayers and journaling prompts will infuse hope into your life. Even as your eyes drift shut, you will discover that the end of a day can also be the beginning of a new and deeper dependence on God. Because when you seek Him, you will find the One who never sleepsāand who strengthens us and works on our behalf even as we rest.
Loyal to a Fault: How to Establish New Patterns When Loving Others Has Left You HurtingĀ ::Ā Courtney J. Burg
Do you find yourself living as the people pleaser or peacekeeper? Do you avoid conflict? Learn how to overcome your fears about setting boundaries and step into a life that's overflowing with love, respect, and healthy relationships.
InĀ Loyal to a Fault,Ā Courtney Burg unpacks the various ways we cope with, enable, and participate in unhealthy relationships or generational trauma. Using personal examples and providing practical wisdom, Courtney helps you break free from codependent patterns by identifying the role you are playing in keeping the dysfunctional patterns going, reframing what it means to love and remain loyal to those who matter most, reminding you that boundary work is a biblical practice, and including end of chapter prompts for deeper introspection.
What are you reading right now? What books are you looking forward to this fall? Comment below and share! My To Be Read list is ready and waiting for your suggestions.
Looking for the other 2023 book round-ups? ā
Life often looks different than what we hoped, planned, or expected. The phone rings in the middle of the night, the test results come back, the relationship falls apartā¦ and weāre left heartbroken, disappointed and disillusioned. Kaitlyn's book, Even If Not: Living, Loving, and Learning in the in Between, leans into the question āIs God good when life isnāt?ā If today feels like a question mark and you need hope for tomorrow, Even If Not is for you.
Iāve got EMH3 on preorder! Once I read the endless pile of cr*p on my TBR list, I want to read Good Baggage as well. I love Sharonās stuff and I imagine Iāll love Ikeās book too!
Thanks for the recommendations, I added a few to my TBR. I just finished reading Go and Do Likewise by Amy DiMarcangelo and The Christian Manifesto by Alistair Begg.