My Five Star Reads in 2018 (So Far)

I love to track the books I read using Goodreads. Because of deadlines and college work, I reduced the number of books I planned to read this year. Nonetheless, I’ve already enjoyed several Five Star reads in the first half of 2018 and thought I would share them with you.

Please note: I am usually way behind in my reading. Although I buy a lot of books when they are first released, it is often a year or more before I actually get to them. Such is life.

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My first Five Star read of 2018 was The Devotion of Suspect X (Detective Galileo #3) by Keigo Higashino, Alexander O. Smith (Translator).

This was an assignment for my International Film and Literature college class. I was intrigued by the story from the first chapter. Nothing in the plot felt wasted or superfluous. I came to care about all of the characters a great deal, even the one(s) who committed murder. I don’t believe I’ve ever before felt that way when reading a murder mystery or crime novel. I want the killer found and dealt with. In this novel, my head knew justice was necessary, but my heart wanted mercy.

Note: Sometimes names in foreign novels confuse me, but that wasn’t the case in this novel.

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My second Five Star read for this year was Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate.

I was emotionally spent by the time I reached the end of this amazing book. I haven’t enough superlatives in my vocabulary to list all that was good about it. The author’s words painted such a canvas for me to experience. The author completely surprised me with Judy Stafford’s relationship with Rill. And because my own mother suffered with dementia at the end of her life, I related with Avery as she tried to piece together a mystery from the past.

I can see why this book was a runaway bestseller in 2017. Do not miss it.

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Next came a novel I’ve been anxiously awaiting for at least two years: The Masterpiece by Francine Rivers.

I wish I could give this book a higher rating than 5 stars. It’s amazing. My heart was broken and stirred so many times throughout my reading. I was reminded again and again of the ways God has moved in my life. I read as fast as possible to reach the end, and then I found myself missing Roman and Grace terribly.

Thanks, Francine, for such a beautiful story of love and God’s amazing grace. It was definitely worth the wait.

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My fourth Five Star read of the year was A Note Yet Unsung by Tamera Alexander.

I enjoyed this novel on so very many levels. The love story flowed so easily and naturally from sparks of dislike into sparks of love. There were beautiful lessons to be learned within these pages too. I thought it was the perfect last installment in the Belmont Mansion series.

Highly recommended.

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For the first four months of 2018, my Scripture reading was in The Passion Translation®, New Testament, my fifth Five Star read of the year.

From the description: “The Passion Translation is a new, heart-level Bible translation that expresses God’s fiery heart of love—merging the emotion and life-changing truth of God’s Word … The goal of this translation is to trigger inside every reader an overwhelming response to the truth of the Bible, unfolding the deep mysteries of the Scriptures in the love language of God, the language of the heart. If you’re hungry for God and want to know him on a deeper level, The Passion Translation will help you encounter God’s heart and discover what he has for your life.”

In my reading, I found the above description to be absolutely true. While I would never use it for an intense study, I will revisit it for devotional reading.

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My most recent Five Star read was Whisper: How to Hear the Voice of God by Mark Batterson.

I love Batterson’s writing style (I’ve read two or three of his books before this). It is friendly and accessible. While I have learned much of what I read in this book through my 40+ years of walking with the Lord and studying Scripture and reading other books, I was glad to be reminded of it all again.

I can highly recommend Whisper to all who yearn to hear God speaking to them.

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So there’s my list of Five Star reads for this year. What about you? What have been your favorite reads from the first half of 2018?

~robin