Hellooooo summer! My favorite time of year is officially here and with it comes summer reading. I cannot be more ecstatic about the summer. It's sunny and warm (okay HOT!) which is a big deal, especially since as I'm writing this I'm wearing a fleece. I'm so cold natured that I am rarely warm (#alwayscold), but this time of year I can finally be warm without a jacket. It's fantastic. Plus, laying out in a hammock and reading is such a small joy of mine that I truly treasure. I may have already sat out for too long one afternoon and gotten a slight sunburn, but I don't mind because I finally finished this book which I highly recommend. I'm ready to grab another book which is perfect, because it's time for another round up of books that are coming out over the next two books. I haven't read any of these (yet!) but these are the books coming out this summer that are on my radar as ones I'm interested in adding to my to-read list.If you're looking for a book that you can already get your hands on (because waiting for books is really exciting but really hard too!), feel free to check out the last edition for April+ May here or the entire series here.

Coming in June 2019 + Ready for Preorder

June 11 –Path of a Peacemaker by NobleConflict is inevitable, but peace, especially among Christians, is essential. When conflict turns into peace, frustration becomes clarity and turmoil becomes unity. When conflict turns into peace, God is glorified. But how do we find peace without ignoring our problems? How do we pursue unity without compromising on our principles?The Path of a Peacemaker offers a simple, proven path to a lifestyle of peace. It guides you through an examination of your own personal story, identifying the origins of your hopes and fears. It invites you to understand and embrace God's approach to conflict, take responsibility for your own part in conflict, and connect with others in a spirit of humility as you learn to listen first, ask for forgiveness, and move forward, even if the conflict remains unresolved.Pastors, counselors, and anyone who is dealing with conflict at home, work, church, or with friends will find this book a vital tool.June 11 –Scoot Over and Make Some Room: Creating a Space Where Everyone Belongs by Heather AvisAuthor and Instagram star Heather Avis has made it her mission to introduce the world to the unique gifts and real-life challenges of those who have been pushed to the edges of society. Mama to three adopted kids - two with Down Syndrome - Heather encourages us all to take a breath, whisper a prayer, laugh a little, and make room for the wildflowers.In a world of divisions and margins, those who act, look, and grow a little differently are all too often shoved aside. Scoot Over and Make Some Room is part inspiring narrative and part encouraging challenge for us all to listen and learn from those we're prone to ignore.Heather tells hilarious stories of her growing kids, spontaneous dance parties, forgotten pants, and navigating the challenges and joys of parenthood. She shares heartbreaking moments when her kids were denied a place at the table and when she had to fight for their voices to be heard. With beautiful wisdom and profound convictions, this manifesto will empower you to notice who's missing in the spaces you live in, to make room for your own kids and for those others who need you and your open heart.This is your invitation to a table where space is unlimited and every voice can be heard. Because when you open your life to the wild beauty of every unique individual, you'll discover your own colorful soul and the extraordinary, abundant heart of God.June 11 –Love Thy Neighbor: A Muslim Doctor's Struggle for Home in Rural America by Ayaz Virji M.D. and Alan Eisenstock

A powerful true story about a Muslim doctor's service to small-town America and the hope of overcoming our country's climate of hostility and fear.

In 2013, Ayaz Virji left a comfortable job at an East Coast hospital and moved to a town of 1,400 in Minnesota, feeling called to address the shortage of doctors in rural America. But in 2016, this decision was tested when the reliably blue, working-class county swung for Donald Trump. Virji watched in horror as his children faced anti-Muslim remarks at school and some of his most loyal patients began questioning whether he belonged in the community.Virji wanted out. But in 2017, just as he was lining up a job in Dubai, a local pastor invited him to speak at her church and address misconceptions about what Muslims practice and believe. That invitation has grown into a well-attended lecture series that has changed hearts and minds across the state, while giving Virji a new vocation that he never would have expected.In Love Thy Neighbor, Virji relates this story in a gripping, unforgettable narrative that shows the human consequences of our toxic politics, the power of faith and personal conviction, and the potential for a renewal of understanding in America's heartland.June 11 –Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry WinfreyA rom-com-obsessed romantic waiting for her perfect leading man learns that life doesn’t always go according to a script in this delightfully charming and funny novel.Annie Cassidy dreams of being the next Nora Ephron. She spends her days writing screenplays, rewatching Sleepless in Seattle, and waiting for her movie-perfect meet-cute. If she could just find her own Tom Hanks—a man who’s sweet, sensitive, and possibly owns a houseboat—her problems would disappear and her life would be perfect. But Tom Hanks is nowhere in sight.When a movie starts filming in her neighborhood and Annie gets a job on set, it seems like a sign. Then Annie meets the lead actor, Drew Danforth, a cocky prankster who couldn’t be less like Tom Hanks if he tried. Their meet-cute is more of a meet-fail, but soon Annie finds herself sharing some classic rom-com moments with Drew. Her Tom Hanks can’t be an actor who’s leaving town in a matter of days...can he?June 11 –Not What You Think: Why the Bible Might Be Nothing We Expected Yet Everything We Need by Michael McAfee and Lauren Green McAfeeSo, you're skeptical about the Bible . . . well guess what: you're not alone.The Bible is seen by many contemporary readers as intolerant, outdated, out of step with societal norms at best, and a tool of oppression at worst. In this earnest and illuminating read, millennial thought leaders and aspiring theologians Michael and Lauren McAfee are here to say: fair enough. But they're also here to raise a few questions of their own: What if we cleared the deck on our preconceptions of this book and encountered it anew? What if we came with the understanding that our questions are welcome? And what if these pages presented less of a system to figure out, and more of a story to step into - a story with more surprising plot twists than we might think?Michael and Lauren spent their childhoods in church and Sunday school, they spent part of their twenties finding their way in the world in New York City, and today they're shaping their careers while pursuing doctoral studies in theology and ethics. Along the way, they've had to wrangle very real questions - both their own, and of their friends - about why, where, and how the most controversial book in history fits in our world today.Not What You Think not only blows the dust off dated misperceptions of this ancient book, it engages the problems of this book head-on - the parts that make modern readers squeamish, skeptical, and uncertain. Join Michael and Lauren as they explore the nature of the Bible - an ancient mosaic of story, literature, history, and poetry - and what it means for this generation and its relationship with God. Ultimately, Not What You Think is an invitation to come and see, and be surprised.

Coming in July 2019 + Ready for Preorder

July 2 – Dear Church: A Love Letter from a Black Preacher to the Whitest Denomination in the US by Lenny DuncanLenny Duncan is the unlikeliest of pastors. Formerly incarcerated, he is now a black preacher in the whitest denomination in the United States: the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). Shifting demographics and shrinking congregations make all the headlines, but Duncan sees something else at work--drawing a direct line between the church's lack of diversity and the church's lack of vitality. The problems the ELCA faces are theological, not sociological. But so are the answers.Part manifesto, part confession, and all love letter, Dear Church offers a bold new vision for the future of Duncan's denomination and the broader mainline Christian community of faith. Dear Church rejects the narrative of church decline and calls everyone--leaders and laity alike--to the front lines of the church's renewal through racial equality and justice.It is time for the church to rise up, dust itself off, and take on forces of this world that act against God: whiteness, misogyny, nationalism, homophobia, and economic injustice. Duncan gives a blueprint for the way forward and urges us to follow in the revolutionary path of Jesus.July 2 – Whisper Network by Chandler BakerSloane, Ardie, Grace, and Rosalita have worked at Truviv, Inc. for years. The sudden death of Truviv’s CEO means their boss, Ames, will likely take over the entire company. Each of the women has a different relationship with Ames, who has always been surrounded by whispers about how he treats women. Those whispers have been ignored, swept under the rug, hidden away by those in charge.But the world has changed, and the women are watching this promotion differently. This time, when they find out Ames is making an inappropriate move on a colleague, they aren’t willing to let it go. This time, they’ve decided enough is enough.Sloane and her colleagues’ decision to take a stand sets in motion a catastrophic shift in the office. Lies will be uncovered. Secrets will be exposed. And not everyone will survive. All of their lives―as women, colleagues, mothers, wives, friends, even adversaries―will change dramatically as a result."If only you had listened to us,” they tell us on page one, “none of this would have happened."July 2 – The Gifted School by Bruce HolsingerSmart and juicy, a compulsively readable novel about a previously happy group of friends and parents that is nearly destroyed by their own competitiveness when an exclusive school for gifted children opens in the communityThis deliciously sharp novel captures the relentless ambitions and fears that animate parents and their children in modern America, exploring the conflicts between achievement and potential, talent and privilege.Set in the fictional town of Crystal, Colorado, The Gifted School is a keenly entertaining novel that observes the drama within a community of friends and parents as good intentions and high ambitions collide in a pile-up with long-held secrets and lies. Seen through the lens of four families who've been a part of one another's lives since their kids were born over a decade ago, the story reveals not only the lengths that some adults are willing to go to get ahead, but the effect on the group's children, sibling relationships, marriages, and careers, as simmering resentments come to a boil and long-buried, explosive secrets surface and detonate. It's a humorous, keenly observed, timely take on ambitious parents, willful kids, and the pursuit of prestige, no matter the cost.July 9 – No More Holding Back: Emboldening Women to Move Past Barriers, See Their Worth, and Serve God Everywhere by Kat ArmstrongWhat’s holding you back from living out your identity as a woman of God?Many of us as women feel conflicted about Jesus’s calling on our lives because a woman trying to love God beyond her heart and soul, with her mind and strength, can be thought of as crossing some line or unspoken boundary.Bible teacher Kat Armstrong challenges us to ask, “Why am I allowing limitations on my pursuit of Jesus’s calling?”In No More Holding Back, Armstrong debunks five common myths about women:1. Women Can’t Be Trusted to Learn and Lead2. I Don’t Have a Lot to Offer3. My Greatest Joy Is Marriage and Highest Calling Is Motherhood Chapter4. I Am Too Much to Handle5. Leading Ladies Don’t Fit in Supporting Roles No More Holding Back invites us to discover the joy and freedom of being all in for Jesus.July 9 – The Enlightenment of Bees by Rachel LindenSometimes a shattered dream leads to an amazing journey.At twenty-six, apprentice baker Mia West has her entire life planned out: a Craftsman cottage in Seattle, a job baking at The Butter Emporium, and her first love—her boyfriend, Ethan—by her side. But when Ethan declares he “needs some space,” Mia’s carefully planned future crumbles.Feeling adrift, Mia joins her vivacious housemate Rosie on a humanitarian trip around the world funded by a reclusive billionaire. Along with a famous grunge rock star, a Rwandan immigrant, and an unsettlingly attractive Hawaiian urban farmer named Kai, Mia and Rosie embark on the adventure of a lifetime.From the slums of Mumbai to a Hungarian border camp during the refugee crisis, Mia’s heart is challenged and changed in astonishing ways—ways she never could have imagined. As she grapples with how to make a difference in a complicated world, Mia realizes she must choose between the life she thought she wanted and the life unfolding before her.In a romantic adventure across the globe, The Enlightenment of Bees beautifully explores what it means to find the sweet spot in life where our greatest passions meet the world’s greatest need.