When I read the title and synopsis of this book I was under the impression that it was a book of ideas and practical advice for raising a Catholic family. I was surprised to open the book and see that it is a devotional book of anecdotes. Although I am not particularly a fan of devotionals, this one had the workings of a good devotional but missed the mark. It was harder to navigate than it was worth. For example, the book is divided into liturgical seasons and begins with Advent. Instead of labeling the chapters "1st week of Advent... 2nd week of Advent... etc" they are just named after whatever topic they cover, leading it to be a confusing mess if you are like me and are planning to follow along with the liturgical calendar.
With all of that said, the book has some pleasant stories that are well-written and fun to read. The stories come from a mom who has definitely spent some time in the trenches and knows what it's like to raise up a Catholic family. I enjoyed the "Growing Spiritually This Week" section at the end of each chapter as well. This section has four practical ideas that you can implement immediately after reading the section of the week. I think it would make for a great mom book/ Bible study. As I said earlier, I love the idea of having a Catholic devotional that goes along with the liturgical calendar but I just didn't like the way this one was implemented. If the author could fix it so that there are dates or at least some benchmark feast days to kind of keep the reader on track, this book would be a perfect devotional. Overall, though, I think this book is worth putting out the cash to purchase for your Catholic home library.
I received this book free of charge from Tiberriver.com reviewer program in exchange for my honest review!
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